


Ghost of a Chance

by Spyrofury767



Category: Danny Phantom, Teen Titans - All Media Types
Genre: Crossover, Danny's sad, Homelessness, Hurt/Comfort, I hate myself, I need help, Not Canon Compliant, Not Phantom Planet Compliant, Other, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, POV First Person, POV Multiple, SHIT HAPPENED OK, SnakeTail HC, Sorry Not Sorry, Soul Weapons, This wAS SO CHEESY, but later, depressed danny, everyone's dead, god help me, i need a hobby, plz kill me
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-08-21
Updated: 2017-02-02
Packaged: 2018-08-10 02:12:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 21,325
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7826173
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Spyrofury767/pseuds/Spyrofury767
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>‘I would say I’m ok, but I’m done lying.’ -Anonymous</p><p>Danny learns true pain firsthand. After an accident, Danny, desperate to be free of his guilt, flees to Jump City, home of the Teen Titans. </p><p>When his hero instincts kick in to return to what he once was, Danny Phantom resurfaces, this time, though, a group of real heroes is paying attention to him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. We Talked About Making it, I’m Sorry that You Never Made it

**Author's Note:**

> This was so cheesy and IM NOT FUCKING SORRY
> 
> IDK HOW OFTEN THIS WILL UPDATE
> 
> IDEK WHERE THIS WILL GO
> 
> IDEFK IF THIS FANDOM IS STILL ALIVE
> 
> AND I DON'T GIVE A SHIT THIS IS HAPPENING ALL THE HATERS CAN GO FUCK THEMSELVES :D

I ducked my head under my crossed arms, pressing my nose into the arm of Sam’s couch, effectively burying my face.

 

“Danny? You ok?” The girl herself asked. I’ll admit, I have a crush on her. She’s cute, nice, smart…

 

Oh, that and she’s a total badass. 

 

She’s always in cool black, her hair done well, not prissy but not completely trash either, there’s always just been something about her that I love. Today, for example, she was wearing a pair of long, black, form-fitting stretchy pants that showed off the surprising amount of musculature that she had gained in the past few months. Gone was the concerningly skinny-fat girl, replaced with an unmistakably tough young lady. She was also wearing a rather tight black hoodie with the MCR emblem on the back, in bold white. All of her hair was down, rather than the half pony-tail she normally had, the black bob-cut brushing her shoulders, purple highlights shimmering across her hair when light hit it. 

 

A week ago, she had gotten her hair dyed an inky purple-black, no noticeable change at first… Until the light hit her hair. Suddenly, it was a brutally bright violet, almost reflective, it was really pretty and looked a lot like magic and  _ oh god she talked to me hang on a second... _

 

“Mmnzmn…” Came my extremely intelligent and rather belated reply.  _ Fuck it. I’m officially too tired to care _ . 

 

Skulked, one of the ghosts I throw down with repeatedly, had shown up again and I spent the entire night in one of his nets, and I got about half an hour of sleep before going to school, then spending the evening watching movies with Tucker and Sam. 

 

Tucker is my other best friend, a techno-geek. He’s always there to hack stuff and bring me an extra Thermos or poke me in the ribs with his pencil to make sure I actually stay awake after a particularly bad night of fighting, or to have him and Sam patch me up after a brutal battle. 

 

I should probably explain the battle situation. 

 

My name is Danny Fenton.

 

About 11 months ago, I wound up activating my parents’ ghost portal. 

 

They are ghost hunters, and they built this big portal to get to the ghost zone, but it didn’t work at first. 

 

Sam challenged me to go in, and I took her on the dare. My hand hit a button that was on the wall, an internal switch, and well… 

 

I wound up in the middle of an interdimensional tear being formed. 

 

It hurt like hell, but when I woke up, I started fighting the mean, furious ghosts that came through the portal, and I made my way to becoming Amity Park’s most infamous hero; Danny Phantom. 

 

However, getting an average of 2 or 3 hours of sleep a night was a mess, and I was constantly exhausted. 

 

Tonight, though, I was trying to last through a few Dead Teacher movies with the gang before passing out. Ghosts are largely nocturnal (The one ability I didn’t get with my half-ghost physiology) and so I was often up fighting at one or two until four or five. 

 

_ Heroes never sleep… _ I reflected briefly before raising my head, placing my chin on my crossed arms and looking over to Sam and Tucker. 

 

Both were watching me with concern, the latter with slightly less concern, but still concern. “Danny, are you ok?” Sam repeated, grabbing my shoulder with her hand. I couldn’t help it, the little jolt of happiness I felt just from the heat of her hands. 

 

I have an ice Core, a specific Core of a ghost’s being. Few ghosts ever find their elemental Cores, although, I learned from Dora that finding your Core is the key to unlocking your soul weapon, so maybe me getting ice powers wasn’t that bad. However, it meant that my body temperature, ghost or human, sat at what would be considered dangerous for any human my age, almost 80 degrees fahrenheit, which was just under 15 degrees below what it should be. Cold became a regular feeling, constant and aching in the back of my head. Just because I can take temperatures that would be equal to that of an arctic snowstorm, doesn’t mean I like being cold.

 

Warmth was very, very appealing. I couldn’t help it, I craved heat. Once, I even stuck my hand into a campfire because my fingers were overly cold. 

 

Sam leaned into me suddenly, and I jumped. “You didn’t answer me, ghostie.” I could hear the grin in her eyes, the smirk that played on her lips. 

 

I let out a contented hum before closing my eyes again. “S’rry, Sam… Jus’ tired…” I managed to get out. 

 

Tucker let out a small, snorting laugh from the other side of the couch. “How much sleep did you get last night?”

 

I made a noncommittal ‘I don’t know’ noise. “...Probably half an hour?” I suggested. Truthfully, it felt like 10 minutes, and I kept a pretty good track of time, even when asleep. 

 

“Jeez dude, and you wanted to be out here hanging out with us?!” Tucker gasped, pausing the movie. Sam made a soft groan, running a hand through my black fringe.

 

“Hey, it was movie night.” I stated defensively. 

 

“Yeah, and now it’s, ‘we-don’t-exactly-mind-if-you-pass-out-on-us’ night.” Sam growled. “It’s ok Danny, really.” 

 

Within half an hour, I had fallen asleep.

 

I was woken up about two hours later to go home. 

 

My sister was at the wheel, my dad and mom were talking to me about a new ghost invention.

 

I went to bed the moment I got home.

 

The next day was the last time I saw any of them alive.

 

__

/      \

\ __ /

 

“ _ If he said ‘help me kill the preside~nt’… I’d say he needs medici~ne… _ ” My earbuds sang into my ears, soothing my tense mood as I walked down the street of Jump City. The black hoodie I always wore was pulled up, overtop of the black baseball cap I wore, keeping my face downcast and blue eyes low. 

 

Rain fell across my hat, dripping off the brim as I waited at the bus stop.

 

It was almost a month since that horrible day. 

 

Ectoplasmic incident inside of school. Toxic fumes throughout the entire place. My mom and dad had heard about a ghost attacking, had spent the whole day on guard. 

 

Everyone was dead within four hours.

 

I didn’t notice anything wrong, just that the air smelled weird. Not a bad weird either, actually, a really nice weird. 

 

But I’m half ghost. Of course an ectoplasmic toxin would have no effect on me. 

 

Anyway, when a few of the skinny guys fell, we thought that something had happened. Maybe a really bad fart, because all nerds have pretty weak lungs, but when some of the normal people started falling, then the jocks, then the teachers, something was definitely wrong. 

 

We didn’t have the smarts to realize that we needed to evacuate the school, and people started dying. 

 

We tried to help. 

 

Sam, Tucker, Jazz and my parents were the last to fall, since they had been exposed to so much ectoplasm over the past while, and I was half ghost. I just had a slight cough, but other than that, nothing. 

 

When Sam fell, Tucker panicked. 

 

Gorgeous, goth, glad, graceful Sam.

 

Then he fell. 

 

Tech, terrific, terrible, turn-on Tuck.

 

I started to realize something was wrong. I pulled the fire alarm.

 

Instantly, the whole building lit up in blaring noises that made my ears ache, the wailing screech of the call ringing through my head with an echo. 

 

My sister went next. She really tried to stay standing, I tried to get her out. 

 

Stubborn, stupid, sparky, sassy, smart Jazz. 

 

I was trying to get them out, screaming at my parents to ‘ _ Run, go, I’ll get them out, it doesn’t affect me, I’m fine, I can protect them! _ ’

 

They didn’t listen, trying to get their children out, grabbing me by the shoulders and yanking me away as I tried to drag Tucker and Sam with me. I threw them off. 

 

They say that children never listen to their parents. They forget that the reverse is true too. 

 

I focused, and let the power that I always kept within me out, allowing it to carve a path through my form to give the energy somewhere to go. A ring of light circled around my waist, expanded out, away from my body, then split in two, one moving up, the other down. 

 

As they traveled across my body, I couldn’t help the confidence that flowed through me, the subconscious way I straightened, pulled my shoulders back, kept a slight, cocky scowl on my face, the slightest method of intimidation I had. 

 

The rings ventured all the way up my body, revealing a black hazmat suit with white boots and gloves, the stylized P within a D on my chest in stark white, then I closed my eyes, hiding my sapphire-blue eyes as they transformed to a radioactive green, letting my raven-black hair shift to a ghostly white, my fringe fluttering faintly over my eyes. 

 

That had been both the slowest and fastest transformation I had ever done. Quickly, I grabbed all five of them, using an ectoplasmic energy shield as a bowl, and I carried them out. Even my mom and dad were coughing now, but the minute they were free, I darted back into the school, carrying students and teachers who were still holding on out of the building, leaving them with the police and fire department officers who were busy trying to get on gas masks. 

 

Phantom though, he became a hero that day, at least to the citizens of the town.

 

My reputation as a hero now was permanent, unmistakable, as I scrambled to get everyone out of the building. Then I went to the ventilation system, and I attacked the ghost who was doing this. 

 

He was a gaseous little thing, infecting the school. I didn’t hesitate as I blasted him into next week, fully going for the kill. As much as I wanted to deny, I knew that Jazz, Sam and Tucker were dead. 

 

I beat the shit out of that ghost, until a small voice spoke in my head,  _ This isn’t what they wanted! _

 

I stopped in shock, grief crashing down on me like a wave, then I put the ghost in the thermos. 

 

My hands were shaking, pain lashing down through my whole form in echoes of a forgotten ‘what was’. I leapt into the air, controlling the feeling of weightlessness in my chest to fly, my feet melting together into a spectral tail, curling out behind me like a snake. I lost feeling of my feet, which is disturbing to say the least, but I got to feel what it was like to be a snake, that was ok. I turned around and flew back for the entrance of the school, the glow of dozens of lights from fire trucks and police officers illuminating the area far more than it already was, bright and hot on Danny’s skin like fire. 

 

That was another side effect of being a black ghost; sensitivity to light. It made me feel heavy and hot, and, if it got really bad, lightheaded and moody. Heat was the same way. 

 

As quick as I could, I landed on the ground and ran over… Where they were already gathering the bodies. 

 

Thanks to me, there would be survivors, but there were a lot of deaths. 

 

I searched through the survivors, calling out. “TUCKER!! SAM!! MOM, DAD!” I shouted, every so often using flight to make long jumps between people. 

 

Three hours later, I found them. 

 

Brave, bold, brash Dad. 

 

Caring, kind, calm, controlled Mom.

 

Gone.

 

That day, six of my favorite people died. 

 

Jasmine Fenton, Madison Fenton, Jack Fenton, Samantha Manson, Tucker Foley.

 

And Danny Fenton. 

 

They gave their lives to save others. 

 

With the disappearance of Danny Fenton, Danny Phantom vanished as well. 

 

_ Hah… If only they knew… _ I thought, tugging my hood up just a bit farther on my head, adjusting my cap and sweeping my fringe to the side, keeping the black strands from my eyes. A bus pulled up beside the stop, giving me a brief reprieve from the rain as I crept into it, small as an abandoned baby mouse, and I sat in the way-back, in the corner, not looking at anyone. Someone sat down in front of me with his friend and pulled out his phone. I glanced over the back of the seat at his screen, and noticed a live footage of the Teen Titans, the famous superhero group who fought crime within Jump City. I rolled my eyes and looked back out the window, waiting for my stop. 

 

When it came, I stood up, ducking my head and walking slowly down the aisle, stepping off the bus carefully, so as not to aggravate my leg. 

 

A week prior, I tripped and fell down three flights of stairs, twisting the bone pretty badly. I figured that I strained it, but upon further examination, I had fractured it. 

 

I had been here for almost a month now, and I was already doing very, very poorly. I couldn’t get much food (people scare me, I can’t handle soup kitchens…) and water isn’t very portable when you don’t have anything to carry it with. I was thin, weak, and brittle. 

 

Two months ago and I was tough as a coffin nail, all muscle and skin, not an ounce of fat on me. I might’ve be skinny as a rail, but I was probably stronger than any of the jocks in Casper High. 

 

As it stood, well… 

 

I was weak, exhausted, shaky, and I was always cold. Colder than usual, even. I hated myself, I was depressed, and I had only been here a month.  _ I am going to die. _

 

Right before the portal to the ghost zone blew up, I discovered that my allies (and a few enemies) had left a present for me. 

 

A tight-fitting, warm black sweater with white accents on it from Frostbite, a small, plain black ring that had white lettering on it, reading ‘GhostBoy’ from Dora, a blackened-silver wolf’s head pendant with green rhinestone eyes on a slightly blackened-silver chain from Wulf, the black hat I wore now with a blue-flame emblem from Ember, Johnny and Kitty, a pair of black and white scalemail armguards from Clockwork, and a blued steel knife from Skulker.

 

Each of these, in turn, had little accents from each ghost that were unbelievably useful. The sweater was very, very warm, even to me, and it concealed the light from my transformations. The ring and the pendant, to disguise my ecto-signature when I was human. The hat had a strange ability that made sure my eyes were shadowed at all times. The armguards, which went to my elbows, were actually really tough and yet very comfortable, made of a black yarn with scales on the back of my arms. They were made to disperse and block ghost energy if I defended with them. The knife, an exquisitely made blue-steel, two edged, was a dagger. 

 

A very sharp, never dulling dagger. The blade was the length of my hand and sharp enough to cut a hair that was laid across it. 

 

Each of these items were uniquely bound to me. Their individual talents only worked when I was touching them. If I didn’t want someone to see one of the items, it would vanish. 

 

Even if some of them were given to me by my enemies, I couldn’t help but be grateful for what I had, especially considering how safe it made me feel. Even the pendant, knowing that I couldn’t be tracked, that I had a way to keep off the GiW’s radar, was a massive confidence boost. 

 

As I walked down the street, I kept my face low. Even with the magic hat, I could still be seen if sunlight hit me at the correct angle. 

 

Then I heard it. The crash of glass. 

 

Shards sprayed across the concrete walkway as the front picture window of a jewelry store shattered, scattering glittering glass pieces like dozens of tiny knives, all screeching for blood. Their deadly, tinkling music sounded low and cool through the sultry bass beat of Wires in my headphones. My left earbud was out (As it turns out, I can use a tiny bit of my ghost electricity to charge my MP3.) and I jerked back, as a figure in black burst out of the broken window, slipping slightly on the glass, sprinting right for me. I didn’t have the sense to dodge or otherwise, and he ran right over me, throwing me off the path with one angry shove. As he whizzed past, I noticed the gun, clutched tightly in his right hand, the bag of stolen goods in his left.

 

I stood in shock for less than a few seconds, but it felt like days in my mind. 

 

_ Leave. You’re still alive, no one knows your secret. _ A voice whispered in my head. 

 

_ But someone’s going to get hurt.  _ Another voice countered.  _ You need to be a hero. _

 

_ You’ll be caught. _

 

_ You’ll be you again. _

 

_ You need to run. _

 

_ You need to fight _

 

_ You can’t escape if they see you. _

 

_ You can’t leave people who can't defend to die! _

 

I let out a small hiss between my teeth, and I ducked into an alley. The strange, yet familiar sensation of power flooding me overtook my body, feeling the energy rush into every nerve ending, vibrating yet taut in perfect, unreleased tension. 

 

The ring was still on, the letters glowing white, the pendant was still stuck in my shirt, but the cap and dagger were gone, in whatever tiny pocket of reality my clothes went to when I decided to go ghost. The armguards were gone too, not that I really minded. Much to my amazement, the hoodie was still in place, covering most of my identity, most importantly the insignia on my chest. 

 

The instant I was ready, I shot out of the alley in a black blur, circling the corner and honing in on the thief like a cat to a laser pointer. I didn’t hit him hard, per say, but I wasn’t gentle either. He fell forward and skidded about two feet, flipping over and beginning to scramble away from me. I stepped forward, stomping the ball of my slim white boot on the end of his coat, effectively ending all chance of escape.  _ How to contain this ass… _ I thought, considering the guy carefully.  _ Oh wait… Ectoplasmic goop! _ I smirked, and aimed a single finger at his one wrist, forming it into a gun, and firing one sticky glob of ectoplasm at his hand, pinning it to the ground. 

 

Ectoplasmic goop could be removed with ease from the outside, but not from the person contained in it. I repeated the process with his other hand, effectively containing him. 

 

“Wha-!” The guy gasped as I pinned his hands down. “Wh-who are you??!” He demanded, slightly fearful. 

 

“The name’s Phantom.” I let my old cockiness fade back into my voice, smirking slightly as my eyes glowed under my hood, the edges of my now-white fringe peeking from the black fabric with my hands in the pocket of the hoodie. “And I’m here to keep scum like you off the streets.” I purred slyly, letting my old persona that was ‘Phantom’ slip back into place. I kicked off the ground slightly, gliding with relative ease over the concrete, touching down again by his loot bag and gun, which had landed by the side. I put the gun in the bag and placed them near the crook’s head, just out of his reach. Then I jumped slightly again, keeping my feet intact as I glid back over to his front. I could hear the police sirens already. 

 

“Wh-what d-do you wa-want?” The guy demanded furiously, although he still held a fearful stutter. I knew that Phantom’s eyes were actually rather creepy to anyone with a good sense of survival. His question though, stopped me dead.  _ What  _ did  _ I want? _

 

I thought for a few seconds, then replied. 

 

“...People like you to be kept away from others.”

 

I pushed off the air and into the sky with everything I had, blasting high into the city’s skyline. A metal truck with a blazing TT on the side pulled to a screeching halt near the guy I had pinned down, and the Teen Titans quickly surrounded him, a flurry of colors and capes. I continued flying away, farther and farther, until I happened across a half-built complex that was stopped in it’s progress until next year. 

 

My luck could be abominable a times, but now was not one of them. I ducked into a half finished room and collapsed onto the floor. 

 

For the first time since everyone had died, I felt like I belonged. 

 

Phanto-... _ No… I.  _

 

_ I am back.  _

 


	2. Mr. Know-It-All, Had His Reign and His Fall

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> OK YOU BITCHES AND HOES YOU READY FOR A HEADCANNON?!
> 
> NO?!
> 
> GOOD!!
> 
> Ok so here's the idea. Ghosts can use their spectral tails (the little tail that forms when a ghost flies. For all y'all that didn't actively research ghost anatomy.) to do random shit like hang upside down or use it as a pillow and I swear, WRITE THAT ALL DAY OK?! DRAW IT TOO!!! I AM!!
> 
> So yeah, you draw and write Danny using his tail for random bullshit ok? The headcannon is called 'SnakeTail HC', got it?

A month from that first incident and I was actually really happy. 

 

Phantom was back, albeit slightly infamous, and he dealt with minor criminals that would otherwise distract the Teen Titans from the truly dangerous villains. 

 

I guess I should say I. I mean, I’m happy again. 

 

I'm who I was always, inside anyway, and I was managing to cling to a few key strings and stay alive. 

 

Admitted, I was still malnourished and probably dehydrated, but other than that, I was actually fine. Fighting again was definitely improving my strength, and I was less pained with every breath. 

 

I was doing what they wanted. I kept their memories alive with each time Phantom appeared on the streets to kick some ass. 

 

Wherever and whenever Phantom showed up, there was always some idiot with a phone out, recording. I was careful of what not to use, among that was ecto-blasts, my Wail, and all ice anything. 

 

I had to keep some secrets, don’t I?

 

Phantom, while he kept their memories alive, he also brought them back. Each night that I could manage to sleep (I looked like so many levels of shit, eyes so dark I might as well have had a pair of shiners, thin, dusty and my hair rather messy, although I managed to keep it pretty clean so that Phantom’s distinct white always glimmered under my hood.) I was interrupted by horrific nightmares. Images of them, my family and friends, glowed in my head, blood and ectoplasm dripping out of their bodies, a brown-green stains appearing on the white sheets that covered their fallen forms where ectoplasm ate at their flesh, chewing at their dying musculature, killing any cells that remained alive. 

 

It was a regular occurrence for me now to wake up and barf. 

 

Of course, all that my body could ever manage was a few streams of watery spittle that tasted like the acid that killed them all. 

 

I had adopted the name Dan Frost for any idiot who happened to ask. 

 

Today, I walked down the street, heading to the West-Side Internet Cafe that I spend most of my day at. 

 

I was pretty ashamed honestly, but I really needed a way to get information. 

 

I stole an iPad.

 

Not from the West-Side cafe, but at somewhere called ‘Coffee and Communication’.

 

Someone left an iPad mini at a table. It was pretty easy, I just snagged it as I walked out. 

 

The instant I left I wanted to return it, but I really needed a way to communicate, to get information. It didn't stop me from feeling brutally guilty. I went over to the West Side and immediately erased all all and any tracking abilities on the IPad, keeping it hidden in my room until I decided to go find out whatever I could.

 

Most of my research was on the Teen Titans, but I wound up looking up info on Phantom too. 

 

**Bing** !

 

_ Shit… _ I thought, glowering at the screen.  _ 10 percent left and I'm in the cafe still… _ After a quick glance over my shoulder, making sure that no one was looking at me directly, and I carefully lay my hand over the back of the iPad, keeping my palm over the charging port cautiously, and I channeled my energy. M-...The iPad made a soft note, the power charging at a pretty peppy pace. When it was high enough, I removed my hand, flicking out my fingers to disperse the rest of the static electricity that fizzled across my hand, a tingly after effect, almost like my hand was asleep. 

 

With the (I really didn’t like to think of it as ‘mine’) iPad charged, I connected to the WiFi in the building and typed ‘Phantom’ into the Google Search Bar.

 

The results made me jolt. 

 

From news reports to shaky video feeds from iPhones, there was enough dirt on me here to fill a GiW computer database.

 

I had a rep, apparently. I was called ‘vigilante’, ‘cause for alarm’, and ‘unsupervised’ by the news and media… But by the public, I was largely announced as ‘minor hero’, ‘assistant’, ‘help’, ‘defender’, and many other names of affection. 

 

Apparently, the Titans didn’t deal too well with robbers. There were just too many to deal with.

 

I packed up the iPad, placing it into the ratty backpack I had found a few weeks ago, and stepped outside. 

 

And the sidewalk exploded.

 

A massive robot crashed into the street, raining dust and gravel all over my body. I covered my face, looking around fearfully. 

 

The Teen Titans followed the robot quickly, weapons already out, prepared for an attack. The robot stood up with a loud laugh, echoing off the buildings like so many ghosts, as humans scattered beneath it’s massive metal feet, trying not to be crushed. 

 

The robot sunk it’s fingers into the ground, the cracking of asphalt loud and unmistakable as it flung a chunk of the blackened, sun-heated road into the air, dirt falling across the walkway. 

 

It took me all of about a second to figure out where it was going to hit. 

 

There was a girl, the magic based Titan, Raven, leaning on a red car near the ground. Her chest heaved to get air, trying to regain her strength. If that was one thing I noticed about Raven, it was that while she was extremely powerful, she had little to no stamina. 

 

And this ball of rock that could’ve crushed Cyborg, the largest Titan, with relative ease, was falling straight for the recovering girl. 

 

_ Going ghost! _ I screamed internally, letting the rings pass over my body, the hoodie masking the transformation. Power, fury and my stupid damn hero complex rose in my throat like bile as my white fringe flopped out of my hood, green eyes glimmering through the darkness, the sudden introduction of Ghost Night Vision allowing me to cut through every single shadow. I leapt off the ground at a run, my feet melting together to form my Spectral tail, streaking behind me like a blaze of the night as I shot under the ball of asphalt, grabbing Raven tightly around the chest, turning us both intangible. She let out a low, frightened gasp, staring between me and the rock ball with wide eyes, and we fired, like invisible bullets, right out of the explosion radius. Gravel sprayed through both of our bodies as she clung to me, frightened. Some 20 feet away, and I dropped the guise of intangibility, landing easily on the ground. 

 

Raven stared at me in shock. Hilariously, we were about the same height, with me maybe an inch taller (I’m not complaining) and I looked back at her. Her purple eyes were so much like Sam’s it was disturbing. 

 

A muffled  _ boom _ came from behind us. I ducked her behind a car, shoving her (kinda gently) onto the ground. “Stay here, regain your strength.” I snapped in a growl, kicking off the ground. She gave a startled nod, and I flew back into the fray, not even noticing that my hood had fallen off.

 

________

/  Raven’s  \

\ __ POV __/

 

I watched in no small amount of shock as the Phantom, the illusive vigilante of unbelievable speed, shot away from me like a bullet from a gun, his legs melting into a small, snakelike tail that extended behind him. 

 

I had to admit, without him, that would’ve hurt. I didn’t have the energy to actually make a shield for more than a few seconds, so one way or another, I would’ve gotten injured. 

 

His green eyes were so… Toxic. It was strange. He was almost like a demon, yet not. A certain cold radiated off him, but his emotions were nothing like a demon’s. He actually cared, about everything. He contained an unnatural amount of power concealed into his thin frame, too thin, now that I really thought about it. I peeked out from behind the car, taking off with a quick jump. 

 

Starfire was in the air, but shaky. Robin was unconscious, Beast Boy standing over him defensively, paws spread wide as a tiger. Cyborg was doing his best to work with Phantom, who was putting an unbelievable amount of powerful, energy-laser like beams from his hands into the face of the metal monster. Already, the blasts were chewing away at the metal, almost like the were slightly corrosive. The metal beast took several steps back, away from the thing (No way he was human) that was violently attacking it’s face. 

 

Phantom held back quite a bit, not wanting to exhaust himself or put others in danger.  _ His self-control must be extreme…  _ I thought, watching him. Then I heard Starfire land with a low groan. 

 

“Star!” I called, gliding down to her. 

 

“Friend Raven!” Star gasped, body beginning to heal already. “W-who is the one assisting us?”

 

“You remember that person who showed up on the news the other day?” Robin gritted out, staggering over, leaning on Beast Boy’s tiger shoulder. “Phantom? That’s him.” Robin nodded to the black blur that blazed around the robot, firing an ungodly amount of the green blasts, throwing it further off balance with each shot. He shouted something at Cyborg, then his form went fuzzy and lightly colored, and he shot into the head of the robot, vanishing from view. 

 

Suddenly, smoke started pouring from the neck of the robot, dumping out in massive, smoggy buckets. Cyborg lunged forward, blasting a cannon shot into the machine’s chest, causing it to fall over backward, crashing to the ground with an echoing boom.

 

Cyborg backed up, running back over to us as Phantom reappeared, landing some 20 feet off. I was the first one to fly at him. Judging by the way he immediately took a few steps away from me, he was uncomfortable. I couldn’t sense his emotions behind the icy cold brick wall that blocked anything in and everything out. His right hand was pressed gently to his ribs on the left side, breathing slightly strained and tight, his stance defensive. 

 

Then the robot’s chest lit up, flaring red lights, an ominous few beeps sounding. 

 

Phantom turned toward it, looking at the dozens of civilians that stood no chance of escaping in time, before his hands flared a violent, poisonous green, toxic flames shooting from his fingertips as he braced for something. His eyes bled the same electric, laser green as his hands when a protective shield/dome appeared over the robot, closing around it like a container. 

 

Then the robot blew up.

 

________

/  Danny’s \

\ __ POV __/

 

I felt the shockwave sift through my arms, a snap of pain in my right one. _ Dammit!  _ I thought.  _ I broke it… _

 

I had fractured my right wrist. I knew it the second I felt the tiny snap, the sharp, intense sting of my movement. The moment that I knew the explosion couldn’t hurt anyone anymore, I let the barrier drop, placing my right arm in the pocket of my hoodie, using it like a temporary sling. 

 

The hooded girl in the purple-black cape started toward me, violet eyes wide and curious. 

 

I panicked, shooting into the air without a second’s hesitation, turning invisible at the earliest instant, blasting away through the sky.

 

I flew through one of the holes in the wall, body contorting as I dipped into what I considered my ‘room’. The cold, nearly winter wind swept through the unfinished structure, creating small currents of bitter cold within the walls. 

 

_ Ugh…  _ I thought, landing and almost instantly collapsing. My legs were too shaky to actually support my bodyweight.  _ This isn’t good… _ I thought, sitting up. Finally, just to make it easier on myself, I levitated into the air, my legs forming into a spectral tail, whipping below my body in a small circle before curling in on itself and giving me a pillow made of my own tail.

 

I almost burst out laughing. I probably looked ridiculous, curled around my own, semitransparent tail, half asleep. It didn’t feel safe though, rather, like a bird that nested on the ground. 

 

Nervous, jumpy, panicked. Quickly, I pushed off the ground, letting my tail fold under my body before I pulled out a roll of gauze. 

 

I had taken it from the worker's station of the construction site, knowing that I would use it more than they would for a while. Swiftly, I set about bandaging my wrist, wrapping over and over, wrapping the thin white material through my arm and between my hand and thumb, watching a thin green-red stain appear on my wrist, just below the thumb.  _ Great!  _ I cursed internally.  _ I cut it too…  _ With a forlorn sigh, I shifted around and tied the bandage, carefully laying my injured arm back into the pocket of my hoodie with a sigh. 

 

_ Ok, I can’t stand, sleeping on the ground is out… What now?! _ I looked up… And almost crashed nose-first into a large, thick silver pipe that ran across my room. 

 

_ Hmm…  _ I thought, and I flipped upside down, wrapping my tail tightly around the pipe, sliding my other arm into the hoodie pocket, under my right arm, supporting the fractured wrist. My spectral tail, like a snake, tightened on the pipe, locking me into a hanging position. Was I human, blood would’ve been flooding to my head, making this whole ‘upside down’ thing rather uncomfortable, but my ghost half mixed my blood with ectoplasm, which was weightless. My blood continued pumping around my body, yes, but at an even pace, and without collecting anywhere. 

 

To my rather animalistic, instinct-driven ghost half, this was very relaxing. Here, I was more or less safe from ground-based enemies, other ghosts would know not to attack any ghost while sleeping (the backlash of waking a sleeping ghost is insane) and I was quiet and alone. It was already night, assisting my ghost half in calming down, which it was anything but earlier when I broke my wrist.

 

I learned a ton about ghosts in the little while I had been one, including that, while most ghosts were conscious and had thoughts and a goal or otherwise, all ghosts had their base of most basic instincts. All of us, even Halfas. 

 

Fortunately, they were actually pretty helpful. I could know better than anyone or anything where was safe and where wasn’t. It gave me confidence and solace. 

 

Being upside down was very calming, even for me. I wouldn’t fall, I knew that. 

 

So instead, I closed my eyes and let the world around me fade.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I WORKED ON THIS HEADCANNON OK!!


	3. From a Little City with Expensive Tastes, Where the Cars Don’t Run ‘Till the Engine Breaks

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I am probably moving too fast. I swear to god Ill slow down.

I bit my lip to mask a low whine as I carefully rewrapped my hand. Green ectoplasmic infection leaked under the white fabric as I kept the hand as steady as I could. 

The instant I was done with the sloppy wrap job, I leaned against the wall with a long sigh. 

_ Three days… _ I thought as I closed my eyes, leaning my head back to touch the wall.  _ Three days and the infection is so bad I can’t change back to human. _

A few hours prior I had tried to become my human form, only for hot, screaming pain to lance up my arm like a burning knife. Apparently, ghost-based infections are deadly to humans. 

That meant I had to spend the next little while with a minor fever and without my dominant hand. The disgusting web of infected green ectoplasm that laced across the back of my hand and wrist like tendrils of deadly claws glowed slightly, sectioned with bloody, sloppy red. 

_ Although, come to think of it, I hope ghost limbs regrow… _ I thought, reflecting briefly on the damage that was actually within my hand. It was pretty big, to be honest. Amputation wasn’t looking too bad, considering how crappy I felt. My head hurt, I couldn’t focus well, and my ghost abilities were deteriorating. Invisibility and intangibility were hard, but I could do them if I concentrated. Flight was sketchy, and as such, I had been staying pretty low to the ground whenever I flew. Ectoplasmic blasts were weak, my ice powers were offline, and my shields weren’t working, I think. Like at all. 

I wasn't about to test my Wail. 

For now though, I unhooked my tail from the pole above me (I forgot to mention, I'm upside down…) and flipped over, letting my legs reform before I sat on the ground, avoiding any nails that were on the floor. 

My life was a lot harder now. I was without my aiming hand, I could barely use my powers, and I couldn’t transform back! This was a disaster!

I had managed to stay alive (Barely.) over the three days I’ve spent in my little cubby hole, hiding away, trying to sleep it off, to heal. Most of the time, I've been either laying on a rafter with my tail as a pillow or hanging from the roof like a bat. Either one was actually very pleasant, I was frankly rather surprised. 

I didn’t quite know how long I had been dozing (I had been fading in and out of reality rather frequently lately and it’s concerning.) before I jolted upright, a shudder running through the building like a shockwave.

“What in th-” I began before another rumble rocked the building to it’s core. I kicked off the floor without much thought, before I suddenly hit the ground again, letting out a choked cry as I jarred my arm. A puff of blue mist expelled out of my body along with the cry, signalling a ghost.

I took off a lot more carefully this time, slowly gliding out of the wall, clinging to a piece of rebar with my tail for dear life. 

There, much to my unending amazement, was Skulker, beating the living shit out of a mostly unconscious Beast Boy. The young hero was doing his best to transform even as the hulking metal hull of a ghost hunter repeatedly punched him. 

Then Robin hopped onto his back, trying to drive a knife into his ‘spine’, when Skulker turned intangible, dropping a rather surprised Robin onto his ass with a small  _ skwak  _ and whipping around to punt him into next week. 

Raven flew nearby, raising her hands, already shrouded in black and purple magic. She focused, violet eyes flaring in intensity as she shouted, “Azarath, Metrion, Zi- AH!” She gasped as Skulker fired a bright green blast at her, nailing her in the chest and sending her flipping head over heels into the side of the building. 

“HAH!” Skulker mocked. “Should think of some shorter magic words, eh magi?” He looked like he might go on, but then Starfire floated nearby, unleashing a barrage of green bolts at Skulker. The massive ghost growled in anger, releasing Beast Boy to chase her. She let out a small squeak, dodging the larger ghost quickly and continuing to pelt him with the blasts of energy. Skulker brought up a huge rocket, and aimed it at the alien princess. “End of the line, child.” He said with a grin, centering his sights. 

I raised my right hand, shaky and unsteady, but I knew that I couldn’t hit shit with my left from this distance. Painfully, both physically and slowly, I curled my hand to make a gun shape, aiming it with my thumb. I sucked in a deep breath, forcing down the shivers that overtook my arm, and I fired, only milliseconds before Skulker pulled the trigger on his own weapon.

The rocket pinged to the side, the release mechanism warped and locked, making the missile turn Skulker in a wide, round circle before it detonated in his face. 

I dropped my arm, panting. That had taken a lot of focus, focus that I didn't have and couldn’t spare. Carefully sliding my right hand back into the pocket of my hoodie, I let go of the pole and floated down, letting my legs reform and a confident, cocky smirk appear on my face. 

“Ghost whelp!” Skulker snapped in shock, wiping soot off his face. Then his shock melted into delight. “I looked forward to this day…”

“Drop the act, Amorpho. You play a terrible Skulker.” I growled. I was not in the mood for it. 

“Wh-!” His accent switched, and in a small shift of light, a tall, faceless ghost in red glasses and a long black coat appeared. “Phantom, how could you tell!” The disguise ghost growled at me. 

“Simple,” I responded. “Skulker calls everyone ‘whelp’, not ‘child’, and I’m ‘ghost child’, not ‘ghost whelp.’” I sighed. “Plus, Skulker and I are cool now.” I faltered in the air, shaking slightly and trying not to show it. 

“One way or another…” The morpher ghost proclaimed, shifting back into Skulker. “I will have your pelt!” He roared, shooting for me.

“Really? Of all his lines, that’s the one you get right?” I snickered. The morpher growled angrily, then he released a massive energy blast in the shape of a missile. I dodged to the side, charging an ecto-blast in my left hand, and fired, slamming it into Amorpho’s chest.  _ That was the most accurate shot I've fired with my left hand.  _ I smirked, feeling a lot more confident. I raised my left hand again, firing another blast, but this one was way off.  _...Fucking great. _ I thought.  _ Concentrate Danny, don’t get cocky… _ Amorpho shot a massive blast at me. I closed my eyes and focused, summoning a shield. Energy lanced off the front, bleeding around my body in long, wispy streams. After a few seconds of standing up to the blast, my hand started to waver.  _ I can’t keep this up! _ I thought, and brought up my right hand to try and resolidify the barrier.

It worked, for a few seconds. I could practically feel the splintered bones of my wrist grating against eachother, cracking the torn bone just that much farther. 

When the blast finally let up, I dropped about three feet out of the sky, shaking. My right arm had started bleeding again, and I was panting. 

“Hehehe… A little weak today, eh, ghost child?” Amorpho laughed at my condition. I was probably fever-blushed green and pale as a (heh) ghost, my blasts not anywhere near full power and my flying erratic. 

“Still strong… Enough… To kick your… Ass!” I panted. This fever was making things harder. My head was foggy and throbbing, my core was boiling. This was awful. 

I raised my hand boldly, going to charge a blast, when sparks fizzled out of my palm. “Wha-” I gasped in confusion, looking at my hand. 

Amorpho laughed. “Too weak to attack!” He cackled, mocking me. 

While he was occupied, laughing at me, I pulled a Thermos out of my hoodie pocket with a smirk. I had grabbed three to take with me from my house. With the last of the energy I still possessed, I yanked off the cap (Ow!) slammed the button, (less ow) and held tight as the Thermos latched onto the ghost and sucked him into the can. (OW!!!) The Thermos, still possessing of it’s problems, sucked out my power to power itself while Amorpho let out screeching wails as he faded into the canister. 

The instant that Amorpho was back in the can, I snapped on the lid and turned around slowly, my breath hot and heavy, panting and thick.

Starfire, the alien princess and Raven, the mystery chick, floated nearby with looks of concern (Well, as much concern as Ms. Emo-tionless could muster. (I hate myself for that pun.)) as I shivered in the air again. Black was pressing in on my mind, the heat becoming suffocating. 

Raven pressed closer, the edge of her purple cloak fluttering calmly as she approached. Before I knew it, she was right in front of me. 

According to my ghost, she felt similar to another halfa. Not quite, but very similar. I hadn’t realized how badly I was shaking as she slowly reached over, gently taking the Thermos from my hands. I let her. She was nice. Calm. 

I could feel the others, watching me carefully, waiting for the first sign of hostility. I was too tired to react, to fly away, anything. Softly, she held out the Thermos to Starfire, eyes never leaving mine.

I could tell what she was trying to do. She was trying to keep me grounded, trying to keep me calm. Carefully as she dared, she hovered near me, and looked me right in the face. Then, to my amazement, even as I could feel my flight wavering, my body wanting to fall, I felt like I needed to wait, like she had something to add. 

“Thank you.” She whispered, voice cool and centered. 

“...You’re welcome.” I returned simply. 

Then I fell.

________

/  Raven’s  \

\ __ POV __/

The ghost/spirit thing vanished into the modified thermos, sucked in by none other than Phantom, who had shown up in the nick of time. At first, we were convinced that he was just a vigilante with a set of unique weapons, but when he saved us and the civilians from that explosion, I believed there was more to him. 

Robin was suspicious immediately, but in the instant I had an insight into his emotions, when he stopped blocking out in a pain-induced spike, I felt the pride, the stress, the fear, the longing, the happiness from just doing the right thing. 

He was far from a vigilante. 

We had noticed his absence pretty soon, we were amazed. He took care of so many of the smaller criminals that we suddenly had free time. I actually enjoyed it, a chance to get into my studies or watch a few episodes of Steven Universe (Yes I watch that show because it is really neat and beautiful and I love it.) before needing to go out on a mission again. 

I had a legitimate chance to have time to recover again. 

I, in that time, did as much research as physically possible on ghosts and other types of spirits, even though I knew most of the information they gave me. However, one new bit of information came to light; a small town called Amity Park, the Ghost Central, until a few months ago. After that, all the ghosts, including the town hero, the ghost boy, vanished after an incident at Casper High which killed most of the student body before the ghost boy saved many. 

They had a few pictures of the ghost boy, and I noticed the disturbing similarities between him and Phantom. 

The Phantom who had been helping us.

Then, after the shield incident, Phantom vanished. Starfire wondered if he had been injured in the battle, whereas I had no doubts; Phantom had been very hurt in the last battle. 

This proved it. 

He floated, shaky and unstable, face pale, even for a ghost. His cheeks had a small, light green, feverish tinge to them, his breathing was heavy, hands shaking, eyes glazed. Even his aura was weak, weakly clinging to him like dust. 

Slowly, I approached, not wanting the injured ghost to flee, but he seemed dazed, fading in and out of reality repeatedly. His right hand was wrapped sloppily in bloodied gauze that was strangely green and red, barely tied off with what looked like messy movements. 

Eventually, I hovered right in front of him. He was looking at me in a cross of fear and curiosity through glassy eyes. Gently, I eased forward, gently removing the containment unit from his shaking hands. He didn’t offer any resistance, just allowed me to take the thermos from his hands. He floated about an inch lower, his aura shuddering, trying to keep him in the air. Slowly, I leaned back and handed the thermos to Starfire, who accepted it from my hands without question. No one said a word, even as Robin and Cyborg supported Beast Boy as he healed. 

I scrutinized the Phantom, shaking before me. He was weak, exhausted, and near-dead, (Oh god puns.) but he seemed to be waiting for something. 

Then I realized I forgot something.

“Thank you.” I told him. He looked relieved, and he let out a long breath. 

“You’re welcome.” He managed to get back, before he shut his eyes and fell out of the sky. I dove after him, but Starfire was faster. She scooped up the injured ghost bridal style, leaning him carefully on her chest as she landed. 

“Whoa, he just fell out of the sky!” Beast Boy gasped. “Is he ok?” The changeling stretched up on his tiptoes to get a good look at the Phantom’s face and arm, before wincing. “That’s nasty…”

Starfire looked the unconscious ghost over. “Will he be alright, friend Robin?” She asked, lowering her body a little bit to let Robin get a look over Phantom as I landed. 

“I’m… Huh…” Robin ran his scanner over the ghost’s broken arm. “This is… So weird… According to the info I got off Raven and from those GiW databases that Batman got us, his physiology is half human… And half… Something else?” Robin glared at the creature in Starfire’s arms. “I vote we imprison it.”

I glared at Robin. “Really. You want to imprison the badly wounded half creature?” I growled. He twisted to look at me, blinking in surprise. What made me the most angry was that he called Phantom an ‘it’.

“N-no, Raven, I-” 

“I say we help him. That’s all he’s been doing to us.” I shrugged, quelling my anger. “And after he’s ok, you can decide if he’s good or not, Robin. You can question him once we fix up his arm.” I pushed past him, landing beside Starfire, who gently pulled off his hood. We were all a little shocked that his hair was completely, pure snow-white. It was very clearly his natural color. Well, as natural as any ghost could be. His face was a very definite green fade, his fever evident. 

Starfire nodded to me. “I agree. Phantom is now friend Phantom.” She proclaimed, shifting her upper body to cradle him better, supporting his shoulder and lower back. I grabbed his wrist and slowly started unwrapping the stained bandages.

A hand, in a soft, yet tough green glove, gripped onto my fingers, stopping my movements. I looked over my shoulder.

“...We get him back to the Tower first.” Robin said coldly. I could tell that he didn’t like taking the near-dead half-ghost in, but he was willing to give it a chance. I gave him a soft smile, the most I had actually shown all day. Instantly, he jolted like I had zapped him. I didn’t emote often (I feel too many of other’s emotions) so when I did, even slightly, it can be a shock. 

Starfire nodded, and we all grimly got into our respective flight formation. I was leading, with Beast Boy as a hawk nearby, green feathers glowing in the sunlight, with Starfire and an unconscious Phantom in her arms just behind me, followed finally by Cyborg with Robin on his back. 

We took off slowly, surrounding Starfire to defend her and our new charge, before we flew for the massive ‘T’ shaped building in the distance. 

__

/      \

\ __ /

When we finally arrived at the Tower, we got to work immediately. We set up Phantom in the infirmary, and I finally got to unwrap his obviously quickly done bandage job. The second that I removed the last bandage, I realized that his jumpsuit had been sliced off around the wrist. 

We all winced back, Beast Boy looking like he might vomit. Even Robin, who had seen some pretty gruesome stuff, took a second to glance away, sucking in a sharp breath between his teeth. Cyborg took a step back as if stung, looking away, pinching the brow of his nose and closing his eyes. Starfire’s eyes widened to the size of saucers, looking terrified, her hands flying to her mouth to hide the small gasp that she made. My jaw tightened, lips skewing unhappily as I withdrew the stained guaze. 

His arm was a mess, laced up and down with green infection, his body bleeding the standard green ectoplasm of a ghost as well as actual blood near the bone, which was showing under a long, thick cut. It looked like it had been torn open. The infection was spread down most of his arm and hand, and looked as if it should’ve been bandaged properly ages ago. With the removal of the guaze, which had been sticking to his skin with dried blood, the wound reopened slightly, the bruised and infected flesh dribbling out a thin line of red-green. 

None of us moved for several minutes.

“...We made him do that.” Cyborg finally winced out, teeth locked. “We didn’t have the sense to… To do anything. We all froze.” He looked up, eyes locking briefly on the destroyed limb, before he quickly snapped his gaze back down. “...And he was too scared to get help.” 

Cyborg said what we all had been thinking; We were guilty. We had caused the gruesome injury of another hero when we hadn’t reacted. 

All of us looked down, eyes downcast, focused on the floor which had suddenly become very interesting. Then Robin looked up. 

“Then we should be responsible.” He stated grimly, and he started up some of our medical equipment. I swept my hood off my head and stepped up beside Phantom, leaning under the table to get the gas mask. We’d need to keep him unconscious for a while now. Everyone had scattered around the room, grabbing different items off shelves and such to try and fix our mistake, all except Beast Boy, who was looking very green sitting by the side. The changeling had a very sensitive sense of smell, and other than the fact that the wound was brutal just to look at, I didn’t want to imagine what it smelled like. 

I stood up slowly, drawing the mask with me, keeping it well away from my face. This gas was specifically meant for superhuman individuals, (Yes we had a seperate canister for Robin, don’t worry about him.) so I figured it should work on Phantom. 

I wasn’t expecting to be greeted with hazy green eyes the moment I stood up. 

Phantom looked at me, confused and dazed, completely disoriented. I watched him carefully, without moving, as he narrowed his eyes. 

“Sam?” He asked in a small, weak voice. 

“...Raven.” I replied simply, seeing no reason to continue his delusions, but my own voice sounded like a whisper. 

“...Whe-where am I..?” Phantom hissed, looking around slowly, trying to focus on his surroundings. He pulled his left arm back, going to sit up.

“Safe.” I placed a hand on his chest, keeping him down. He looked up at me confused. “You’ll be fine.” I told him. “Just sleep, ok?” My voice was a little more concerned than I liked, but I felt that he merited it in this state. I placed the mask carefully on his face, and turned on the gas with a flick of my wrist, black magic activating the switch for me. He continued to watch me with those toxic green eyes until the gas took hold, gradually dropping him into a cold sleep. 

Robin stepped up beside me. “Is i-...er, he out?” He cut off only when I shot him a glare that probably would’ve incinerated anyone that I didn’t know. 

“He’s. Out.” I put extra emphasis on the ‘he’.

I’m a half demon. I knew exactly how Phantom felt. A ghost fused with a human body, some kind of hybrid. There was a point in time where I was called an ‘it’ by anything, until I met the Titans. They used the right pronouns at least. 

Robin gave me a small nod, and he walked over to Phantom’s right side. I went to go get disinfectant. 

At least we could fix our mistake.

________

/  Danny’s \

\ __ POV __/

I wasn’t sure how much time passed between me falling and the flickery, hazy, disconnected memories that filtered through my brain. The first one was what looked like Sam telling me to sleep. Her voice was distorted and warped. (Was it even her voice?) Something in my head told me this one was a figment of my imagination. 

The next one was of a white room and a green shape watching me. I wondered briefly if it was a ghost, and if I was in a ghost zone hospital or something. (Did the ghost zone even have hospitals?) It was still too fuzzy to tell. 

After that was a concerned face with pale orange skin and bright green eyes watching me, long red hair flowing off the person’s shoulders and back. At first, I thought it was Jazz as a ghost. If so, then she made a very pretty ghost. (Wait, why would Jazz be a ghost? She’s fine!)

The next few were just discordant light and noise, nothing major, other than that my tired, fuzzy mind noticed the pain in my right arm was steadily decreasing. (Why did it hurt in the first place?)

The next one was an actual, older memory that I figured I dreamed of. 

_ When I first got home, my first impulse was to punch something else in the face I was so mad. Then my brain realized this was idiocy, I had already spent three hours punching the shit out of stuff.  _

_ I glid through the window, barely managing to turn intangible before I smacked my face on the glass. I returned to tangibility, my glow strengthening back to it’s normal brightness as I collapsed on my bed, my tail lazily laying behind me, only the slightest flick at the tip told me that I was still awake, still ghost, still had a FUCKING TAIL!!! _

_ Oh right… What time was it? I raised my head, looking sleepily through my white fringe at the glowing red clock near my bedside table. “One… Thirty-two…” I mumbled tiredly.  _

_ I had a test tomorrow. In history. The midterm. No complaints really, other than the usual, but I only ever got or three hours of sleep, and that’s on a good day. Normally, it was probably between half an hour and two hours. That’s just how life was for me now. I pulled on a huge, poofy black sweater with a FOB logo on it. I’ll admit, I’m huge Emo-band trash. It’s cool. _

_ I managed to slide under the covers, grabbing a soft, fluffy, fuzzy-furred blanket off the end of my bed, dragging it’s warm black shape under the thick top sheet with me.  _

_ I pulled out my phone briefly, texting Sam who I knew was going to worry, and Tucker too because he was always supportive. ‘I got home guys goin to sleep.’ _

_ Jazz was always the one to wake me up, no matter what, so I didn’t bother shifting out of Phantom. I was too damn tired to give a single shit. I covered myself in the soft blanket, ducking my head underneath the covers to hide my face from incoming light. After about 20 minutes of me being too cold to sleep, my minimal body heat began to remain trapped under both the sweater and the blanket, reflected back on me, warming my icy core. I felt more advanced sense returning to my fingers and toes, despite the fact that they were still covered in my gloves and boots. Not that I minded, the hasmat was actually rather comfortable. I closed my eyes, letting the darkness envelope me, keep me safe and warm and oh jeez I need sleep… _

_ “BEWARE!!! I AM THE BOX GHOST!! CONTROLLER OF ALL THINGS CARDBOARD AND SQUARE!!!” A familiar voice screeched. My eyes flicked open with what must’ve been an impressive glow, because the bed near my face lit up in headlight-neon green as I sat up, made a furious growl in my throat, and looked out the window. I knew what I looked like.  _

_ My jaw locked, lip pulled back in a low snarl, revealing the tiny fangs I seemed to be developing (Not unlike Dan DAMMIT.) and my eyes glowing so bright they could’ve been considered searchlights, pupils narrowed into catlike slits (This was beyond new and I loved the way it helped me focus. Not that I ever got mad enough to use it often. Oh and it meant I wasn’t turning into Dan. He didn’t do that thing to his eyes.) and a growl purring it’s way out of my throat.  _

_ There indeed was the Box Ghost, tossing small cardboard boxes around at fleeing passerby with more calls of ‘Beware!’ _

_ I let out a long breath, calming down. ‘This’ll be easy…’ I told myself, massaging my temples. ‘It’s just Boxy, you can handle him, he’ll be easy, you’re fine, just get out, take care of it, and come back, the bed’ll still be warm you’ll be fine I swe-” _

_ “GHOST CHILD!” A familiar call rang out. _

_ “GOD FUCKING DAMMIT!!” I screamed at the roof without hesitation. _

_ This was going to be a long night... _

Then, the final one was when a huge robot guy loomed over me, a little like a red-eyed Skulker.  _ Ok, so I really am in the ghos-... Skulker isn’t black! _ I had thought before fading into black again. (What was with the sleeping constantly?!?)

At long, long last, I opened my eyes. And they stayed that way. I winced in the light as my eyes focused for the first time in what felt like forever. I was in a white-walled hospital-like room, hooked up to a few different monitors. My heart jumped into my throat, and I looked down at my left hand first. The gloves were still on, I was still ghost. That was good. Slowly, everything came back, from helping the Titans to hanging around in the half-finished building to my arm to fighting Amorpho, it was all there. 

_ My arm! _ I realized with a jolt. Before, it had been a brutal, stabbing pain that was impossible to forget or ignore. Now, it was a dull ache, slightly more noticeable when I moved, but it didn’t sting at all. The arm felt oddly heavy though, and I looked over. 

_ Oh. That’s why… _ I blinked. I was wearing a cast. It was pretty thick and reletively heavy, but nothing serious. What amused me most was that whoever put it on had the artistic skill to make it black and white, matching near-perfectly with my other arm. The black went to about the middle of my lower arm, upon which it switched to white, matching with the gloves that I always wore. I braced my left arm carefully on the bed and pushed my body up, leaning against the backboard.  _ Jeez, all that time sleeping and I still feel weak…  _ I pressed my hand to my head, trying to work out the aching feeling in my brain. Suddenly, a thin green creature leapt onto the bed, straddling me, talking a thousand miles a second. I pressed my back as hard against the backboard of my bed as I dared, 

“Ohmygoshyou’reawakethat’sawesomehowareyouhowareyoufeelingareyouactuallyawakeorissomethingelsehappeningnowohmygoshwhatevenareyouwhyhaveyoubeenhelpinguswh-” A sharp smack from another person made him stop, and I got a good look at him. Pointed ears, tail, green fur, wide, childish eyes… Beast Boy. “Ow!” He winced, rubbing the back of his head. “What was that for Raven?” He demanded, glaring at her. 

“For annoying him.” The girl nodded to me calmly, flipping her hood down. I flinched. “Maybe introduce yourself nicely?” She was the spitting image of a super-powered Sam. Even her color scheme, black and purple with hints of blue was so reflective of Sam I wanted to cringe. 

Because inside, I knew Sam was gone. 

“Heya! I'm Beast Boy! You saved my ass earlier!” He grinned a winner’s smirk, so childish I would’ve laughed. 

“Glad to know I saved someone's…” I muttered, looking away.  _ Good to know I still have survior’s guilt good to know…  _

“One way or another dude, that was awesome!” Beast Boy grinned. “You got a name?”

“Phantom.” I replied simply, trying to smile at him, to seem social. 

“No, not your cover! Your name!” Beast Boy’s tail lashed behind him in excitement. 

“That is my name. Phantom. Danny Phantom.” I shrugged, actually smiling this time. Beast Boy was almost like a human puppy dog. 

“Oh.” He said in shock, before nodding and jumping a bit again. “That’s a cool name! So a-” 

“That’s enough, BB.” Raven jumped in, and I now had the time to notice her turning off the monitors on me and such. “Go tell Robin that Phantom is awake.” She ordered, voice a monotone. BB sighed, tail falling limp behind him, before he got up and left the infirmary.

“...How are you feeling?” She asked, going about what looked like a pretty routine checkup. 

“I uhh… Guess I'm fine… My arm aches a little but I’m good other than that.” I looked at my right hand, running a hand down the hard backing of my cast. 

“Good.” Raven said, then didn’t talk anymore. I could feel the tension in the air was only from myself. 

I let out a soft sigh, then jumped when Robin somehow appeared beside me, eyes narrowed behind his visor/mask/I-don’t-even-know thing. The mask thing itself moved with his eyes, making it rather easy to judge his expression. 

I hadn't even heard the door open. 

“Alright,  _ Danny Phantom _ .” Robin emphasized, glaring at me. “Who are you and why do you keep-”

“H-hang on!” I broke in. Robin’s eyes narrowed further.  _ If looks could kill… _ I thought. “Is this a fast food place?” I asked as the other Teen Titans crept into the room, observing our exchange. Raven cocked an eyebrow in my direction. Robin looked honestly confused. “Because I don’t remember ordering any sass.” I gave him my best shit-eating grin, while I waited on the answer of ‘was this joke a good idea or not?’.

Beast Boy made a low snicker noise from the other side of the room, while Cyborg tried to hold down laughter. 

What surprised me most though was the rather loud  _ snarf _ noise beside me. Every eye in the room turned to look at Raven, who I assumed had made the noise, but none of us could quite believe it. By the time we looked at her though, she had already appeared to have regained her composure, her back to us. Her shoulders were strangely pulled up though, like she was tense. 

Robin turned back to me, jaw set in a very strange line. “Yes, well, you didn’t need to o-order any t-to...Pffft…” He turned away, a small smile breaking his focus. “O-oh my god…” He whispered to the others. I somehow managed to keep my shit-eating grin throughout the whole ordeal, only getting bigger as I realized that I got them. I got them good.  _ THE JOKE WASN’T EVEN THAT FUNNY MY GOD. _

While Cyborg and Beast Boy were trying to comfort a rather stressed, slightly giggling Robin with a blush as red as his bulletproof jacket, Starfire walked up to me. 

“You have apparently done the making of a ‘joke’, that has caused Robin to have the feeling of embarrassment. Cyborg applauds you.” She said in a happy, almost robotic voice. 

“Y-you what?!” Robin gasped, obviously trying not to laugh and failing miserably, looking up at Cyborg in complete betrayal. 

“Hey man, it takes some serious balls to try and get you to laugh.” Cyborg defended. Beast Boy was laughing because Robin was trying not to, and it wasn’t working out well for either of them. Robin was still as red as a beet, looking like he was trying distinctly not to die right then and there.

“With that at the side, I would like to ask you some questions, Danny Phantom.” Starfire smiled at me calmly. 

“Umm… Sure?” I shrugged. She was nicer than Robin was anyway, but they seemed like nice people. I actually really liked them. Maybe I could actually go back to being a he-  _ But you said that side of you was dead!  _

_ It came back to help them. _

“Ok!” Starfire smiled brightly, then she started talking like an excited fangirl, way too happy to be meeting a new person. “Igotyournamedoyouliveherewhat’syourfavoritecolorandwouldyouliketobemyfriend?”

It took me a few seconds to decipher the whole thing, but thanks to the fact that I could speak ghost, the most batshit crazy language in the entire multiverse, I could actually understand. 

“Ok, yes, blue and sure.” I answered. Starfire’s eyes lit up and she made a small squeal in the back of her throat as I said ‘sure’. I had the strangest feeling that the answer I gave her wasn’t one she received often.

I discovered why when she enveloped me in a crushing hug. 

“Ow, ow! S-star!” I stuttered as she squeezed me like a teddy bear. “Can't… Breathe!” I gasped, and she made a little ‘oh!’ noise before she dropped me back on the hospital bed. I heaved, my lungs burning for air. I hadn’t had the chance to switch to ghost breathing before she squished me, so I was still running on human breathing then. No wonder that hurt. 

“Oh! I am so sorry, Friend Phantom!” She smiled. I flinched slightly. 

“...Call me Danny.” I smiled softly. 

“Ok, Danny…” Robin growled, composure regained except for the smallest blush across the top of his cheeks. “No more games. Who are you and what are you doing here?”

Internally, I cringed. I hated this question, so I stuck with the lie I had always had. “I told you before; I’m just a Phantom who wants to help.” I shrugged. All of them glared at me.

“You are not that simple, Friend Danny, and neither are we.” Starfire stated, voice calm and clear. 

“I'm aware that you’re not simple, but really, I’m just a little ghosty that cares an awful lot.” I sighed again, looking down. Everyone’s eyes focused on my face. I could tell that they were searching me for lies, but it wasn't a lie. Just a half-baked truth. 

“Dude, we can tell that there’s more to it than that, you have to be more than just a random ghost that happens to give a shit!” Beast Boy barked, baring his small teeth. 

“Yeah, well, you’ve got to be more than a little morphling that happens to know a good team!” I snapped back, frustrated. This was getting to be too much work to keep up. I sat up in the bed, going to glare at Beast Boy, my eyes starting to glow brighter and brighter.

“Danny, Beast Boy, please st-” Starfire began, but Beast Boy cut her off.

“Yeah, well, at least my name wasn't Inviso-Bill!” He fired off. 

Silence. 

I had frozen. The light within my eyes faded in a second. I was completely paralyzed from any movement other than a single, shocked expression. I couldn't even summon the strength to be mad.

Beast Boy paled, realizing what he said. “O-oh my g-god… I-I-I…” He began, taking a step back.  _ He looks so… Guilty. _ I thought with a blink of recognition in the back of my brain.  _ He just got worked up. He’s still a kid, Phantom. Just like you. _

“...You looked me up, didn’t you?” I asked, staring at them quietly, voice a husky whisper. BB looked down with a grave nod. Robin bit the edge of his lip, then stepped forward. 

“It wasn't him.” He broke in. Both BB and I turned to look at him with equal levels of shock. “It was me. I looked you up, because… I was suspicious. I… I’m sorry, if you really didn't want your past found out.” Cyborg looked like he might pass out.  _ Was this… The first time that Robin has straight-up apologized? _ I wondered before going back to the problem at hand. 

“...It’s not really ok, but I… Well, I understand why. You had to protect your team from threats. But I uhh…” I rubbed the back of my neck. “...I guess I owe you guys an explanation for saving my ass?” I suggested, giving a half smile.

“That… Sounds ok.” Robin gave a similar awkward smile, about to ask something when Starfire burst in. 

“No questions until after we have dinner!” She demanded, pointing an accusing finger at Robin and I. 

“Huh?” Both of us said at the same time, looking at her like complete idiots. 

“You both are requiring of the tasty meals which promote good friendship! I will begin preparing it!” Starfire jumped off the ground and shot out of the room, racing away down the hall.

“...Well, I hope you have a steel stomach.” Cyborg nodded at me. “Because Starfire’s cooking is in!” He laughed.

“‘In’?” I repeated, flipping my legs around, going to stand up. 

“Inedible!” Cyborg barked, bursting into a loud laugh. I rolled my eyes, snorting, as I placed my feet on the ground, testing my strength. Beast Boy stepped up beside me, and seemed to be waiting for me to try and stand. I pushed off the bed and stood for about a second, the other four waiting and watching… 

Before my legs gave out and I collapsed to the floor. My hand flew out to try and stabilize myself, catching the edge of a tray and flinging small tools across the room. I hit the ground, my rather creative cursing lost in the cacophony of clinking items as I glared angrily at my lower body. 

“Dammit!” I snapped once the sound had stopped, pounding a fist to the ground. “I did that damn thing for too long…”

“Danny, it’s ok, really, we don’t mind helping you. You’re just a little weak an-” Cyborg started.

“No, I spent too long using my spectral tail as my legs… Damn…” I hissed, and pulled my legs under me. 

That’s when I felt it. 

A cold, icy ring formed around my waist, lighting up the area around me. “OH fuck nonononononono!” I gasped in panic, wanting to hide my human half, although it was already quite conspicuous by the _glowing ring_ that just _appeared_ around my _lower body._

It didn’t entirely work. I had spent way too long as Phantom, and I needed a few minutes. The ring started to split in two, then tried to suck back together as I slammed down on the transformation, trying to keep it together. Eventually, I was forced to release it to get back my own energy, and the glowing rings finished their course, one running up my body, the other running down, replacing my suit with a pair of jeans and a white shirt with a red marking, my boots with sneakers, my snow-white hair and toxic green eyes with raven-black hair and ice blue eyes. 

All of them stared at me, now Danny Fenton, in complete and total shock. 

“Heh heh…” I laughed weakly, grabbing the edge of the bed and hoisting myself up, managing to stay standing. “Guess I'm explaining before dinner?”


	4. Please Don't Make Any Sudden Moves, You Don't Know the Half of the Abuse

 

“...And I woke up, able to switch between.” I finished calmly, trying to keep my stressed out heartrate to a minimum. As it stood, I was in the gymnastics room, most of my original movement regained as I stood up on a balance beam, Raven half-reading in the corner, trying to make it seem like she wasn't listening carefully. Cyborg and Beast Boy were hanging out by the side, playing with a pair of DS’, while Robin walked beside the balance beam with me, making sure I didn't fall. 

 

“So, what your saying is that you’re some kind of hybrid?” He asked, looking up at me. 

 

“Yep.” I smiled and jumped into the air, doing a front roll, changing to Phantom mid-air, landing on the balls of my feet at the very edge of the balance beam. 

 

“That’s… Different…” He said with a sideways glance to the others in the room. “And these… Other ghosts attack you?” 

 

“Used to.” I corrected. “Or at least, most of them probably are still mad at me, but I've made a few friends.” I did another front flip, a full turn and a half, landing on my hands. I was basically back to normal, my body already fixing the broken arm because of my ghost healing factor. “They come in handy.” I shrugged, while upside down. 

 

“So then, why were you misjudged?” He asked, pointing a bird-a-rang at me.

 

“No idea. But after the… Accident, I became what I am now. Crime fighting vigilante, specialist in the supernatural.” I pushed off the one hand, onto the other, before throwing off with that one too and gliding into the air, landing on the bar again. “All while I myself was a supernatural.” I hopped off the bar, landing infront of Robin. “But I tried to be the good guy, I swear.” 

 

In my explanation, I had left out Vlad, Clockwork, Dan and the GiW.  _ They don’t need to know  _ _ yet _ _. _

 

“And I believe you, but at the same time, we need to-”

 

“FRIENDS! COME FOR THE EATING OF DINNER!!” Starfire shouted down the hallway. Everyone winced. Apparently Starfire wasn’t noted for her cooking. 

 

I turned back into Fenton about midway to the main area when a pungent, impressive (I didn't say good.) smell rose from the kitchen. I balked, turning green around the face, although, it wasn’t from ectoplasm this time. 

 

Cyborg grabbed me by the shoulder with a grim grin, the face that screamed ‘Just walk in, you won’t die.’

 

I glanced at him skeptically, but just to be safe, I turned into Phantom. 

 

Previously, the scent had almost made me retch with disgust, but now it smelled like ambrosia. 

 

I took off, letting my legs form into a tail, streaking behind me as I shot through the door, going intangible, then invisible, creeping up on Starfire as she placed a large pot of something purple and on the table. 

 

I couldn’t eat it as a human, but to my ghost that stuff was delicious, and I knew it. Starfire continued to place different items on the table, while I floated above the table, trying not to lunge down and eat some stuff right now. 

 

Man I was hungry. 

 

As the other Titans entered, looking around in confusion at where I had gone, when I decided to reappear… Right above Robin. The instant I reappeared, Raven’s head snapped over to look at me, and I made a little ‘keep quiet’ gesture as I pointed to Robin. Just by the look of him, I could tell that it was very hard to surprise Robin. 

 

Carefully as I dared, I reached down and squeezed Robin’s shoulders.

 

I mean, I would be lying if I said I hadn’t expected Robin to be high-strung, but this was crazy. 

 

He shot a solid foot and a half in the air with a girlish yelp, whipping around so fast I thought he broke his spine, drawing a bird-a-rang and pointing it at me. 

 

Beast Boy and Cyborg were practically choking with laughter as I landed and did a few mock-bows. “Thank you, thank you, I’ll be here all night.”

 

Robin glared at me furiously, then his teammates. Starfire was leaning on a counter, one hand on her mouth to try and cover her giggles, and Raven, for some reason, turned away. 

 

Cyborg clapped me on the back. “Y’know, this is the first time that I've ever seen Robin actually jump in any way other than battling.”

 

I smiled, and blushed. I hoped I was making a good impression. Then something grabbed my shoulders. 

 

“YAAAAAAAGH!” I shouted, leaping into the air, transforming legs into a tail as I turned to face the others. 

 

Robin glanced up at me, looking unbelievably smug, arms crossed and a slight smirk. “Huh. So you can spook a ghost.” 

 

Now it was my turn to laugh. I landed carefully, and we all started for the table. 

 

“So, Friend Danny, how did you come to being in Jump City?” Starfire asked as we all sat down. 

 

“Well…” I looked down. “There was an… Accident in my hometown and… I had to leave.” I shrugged, really trying not to let off too much. Raven gave me a strange look, and I tried not to look nervous. 

 

“Ah!” Starfire smiled. “Well, friends, let us be seated for the eating of dinner.” 

 

“Yay food!” I cheered quietly in a rather high voice, doing a mini fist-pump as we got seated.

 

About ten minutes into eating and everyone was watching Starfire and I. 

 

Starfire, since she made meals native to her home planet, could eat them without thinking much of it.

 

I don’t know why, but whatever she used in her cooking was absolutely delightful to a ghost. I, also being rather hungry, ate actually a staggering amount. 

 

“I… Don’t think I've ever seen anyone eat… That much of Star’s cooking ever.” Robin said as I sat back. Star herself looked like I was the greatest thing since the invention of the wheel. 

 

“Friend Danny, do you like the Snorpgarben?” She asked with a grin a mile wide. 

 

I, upon hearing the name of what I just ate, made a noise not unlike ‘Snorpgarben’ as soundless, cough-like laughter caused me to lean forward, doubled over until my head touched the table. “Yeh-ye-yes St-star…” I managed to get out through my laughter. “I-I-it was delicious…” I said breathlessly, trying to contain my enjoyment. 

 

Star made a small ‘Eeeee!’ noise before making a few small claps with her hands and running around the table to hug me. “Umm… Star? Wh-”

 

“Friend Robin, I like Danny!” She grinned, hugging around my neck and head, nearly choking me. “Can we keep him?” 

 

Now Beast Boy and Cyborg made a similar noise, leaning over the table, cackling. Robin snorted into his water, looking away briefly. Raven just cocked an eyebrow. 

 

It was probably because of the MASSIVE BLUSH that covered my face, the ‘squee’ face on Star, and the fact that Star was squeezing my head as she pressed the side of her head into the top of mine. 

 

“S-Star… You can’t just…” Robin snickered over the absolute cacophony that the other two were making. “You can’t just say that on earth!” He laughed. 

 

“Bu-... But why not?” She asked, releasing me (ish) and turning to look up at Robin. 

 

“Well… It’s not exactly polite.” Robin stammered awkwardly, his face screaming ‘how the hell do I politely explain this to the alien princess’ while glancing around the room helplessly. 

 

“Starfire, he isn't a pet. You can’t just keep him.” Raven stated in a cool monotone. “You need to ask him if he wants to stay.” She shrugged, before turning back to the book she had sitting near her plate. 

 

Starfire gasped, yanking my shoulders and turning me to face her. “Friend Danny, will you stay with us?” Robin looked like he might interject.

 

Beast Boy jumped up. “Yeah Rob let him stay! I wanna see if he’s any good at Burnout Revenge and Doom!” 

 

Robin took in a breath again to say something, when Raven leaned over and told him something in a small voice. He raised a hand, then lowered it slowly looking away, confused and slightly torn, before making a small ‘hm…’ noise.

 

“Then it is settled!” Star beamed. 

 

“I didn't say an-”

 

“Friend Danny can stay with us!” 

 

__

/      \

\ __ /

 

I had, to make up for them ‘keeping me’, (I’d like to add that I had no choice in the matter.) assisted cleaning the kitchen. Immediately afterward, though, Beast Boy and Cyborg dragged me into the living area and plopped me on the couch with an XBox remote. 

 

“Ok, have you played either of these games before?!” BB half-shouted, throwing a pair of game cases at me. Cyborg sat down beside me, looking equally as excited, while Starfire curled up near Robin on the love seat, watching intently. 

 

Raven’s face was still buried in her book. 

 

I looked over the cases.  _ Doom and Burnout Revenge? Oh hell yeah! _ “Yeah, I've played a bit.” I shrugged, acting nonchalant.  _...Doom...heh… Tuck. _ I looked down slightly.  _ Great now I'm sad again. Damn, Sam would kill me for being this depressed if she weren't dead and STOP THINKING ABOUT IT YOU IDIOT!!! _ I winced at my own internal commentary. 

 

“Aw yeah!” Beast boy snatched the cases from my hands, turning to the TV. “What do ya’ wanna start with?” He asked, looking back at me with a grin.

 

“Umm…” I eloquently replied, considering.

 

“Burnout Revenge first!” Cyborg jumped in. 

 

“Umm…” I repeated, unable to fully get behind what the hell was going on.

 

“Aw yeah!” Shouted Cyborg, inserting the disc and grabbing a second remote. “I'm playing the new guy first!” He shouted. 

 

“Aw come on!” BB pouted, folding his arms and leaning back with a huff. 

 

“Umm…” I managed again as the game started, loading us into the car select. “...Do you guys have all the cars?” I asked finally.

 

“Yeah we do.” Cyborg smiled as he sorted through the cars. 

 

I flipped back around the selection ring and picked the F8-1 SuperLight, an unbelievable fast, unbelievably hard to control, unbelievably intense car.  _ This is a thing I can do… _

 

Cyborg laughed at my selection, picking out a medium weight, medium speed, high steering Lamborghini. “Really? The SuperLight? Good luck.” 

 

“He’ll need it.” BB snickered. 

 

I smirked, leaning forward and setting my elbows on my thighs, holding my remote, the smooth black plastic and rubber knobs and glassy buttons cooling slightly under my touch.  _ You don’t even know what you’re getting into… _

 

Cyborg got into the game too, grinning the grin of ‘I’m so winning this.’

 

Three races later and Cyborg wasn’t smiling. His teeth were gritted in determination, BB leaning forward as well, watching the screen in pure delight, and me with admiration. 

 

I was still sitting like I had started, but I wasn’t at all stressed. There had been a point in time when I went into this game as practice, and I always raced as the F8-1. 

 

Tucker had wondered how in the world I had gotten so good in a week. 

 

When I beat him by a good 15 seconds in the last race, he sat back. “Ok, how are you so good at this?!” Cyborg demanded. 

 

“Please…” Beast boy leaned over beside me, grinning like mad. “Teach me.” He whispered.

 

I couldn't help but match his grin. “That’s not hard.” I grabbed his hand gently, thinking to myself,  _ man this is gay, _ as I made us both float a good 7 or 8 feet off the ground, the familiar weightless cold settling in my chest as Beast Boy yelped, and I winced. “Oh jeez, sorry… I forget how strange my form of flying can be to people.” 

 

“No kidding! This isn’t anything like flying as a bird!” He half-shouted, clinging to my arm for dear life. 

 

“You know, as long as I’m touching you, you can’t fall, right?” I asked, watching him grip to my wrist so hard that I feared he was cutting off circulation. 

 

“No!?” He screeched in disbelief. 

 

Everyone was watching now, Robin looking as if I might attack or kidnap BB. “Well, you can’t. Just… Here, I'm going to show you how I got so good at this.” I turned us both intangible…

 

And dove into the TV.

 

__

/      \

\ __ /

 

“Woo! It worked!” I did a fistpump, looking around at the virtual character select. 

 

“Wha-...” Beast Boy looked around in disbelief. “A-are we… In the game?!” He shot over, selecting his character before practically pouncing on a green sports car. “Ok, it’s official, you’re the coolest ghost.” 

 

I smiled, selecting the character we had created for me after the first set of races, then walking to the character’s F8-1.

 

“So, you want to really race?”

 

__

/      \

\ __ /

 

About an hour later, we came out of the screen with a shout, tumbling out of the virtual world with small shouts and swears. I hadn’t managed to get my flight exactly fast enough to make an even, clean exit, mainly because BB had been struggling the whole time.

 

We both hit the floor and rolled, separating completely and splattering on the ground, BB in slight shock on his stomach, near the table, (Physical beings coming in and out of solid objects and other worlds.) and me being completely splattered, flat on my back with my head only a few inches from the couch.  _ Yow… That was… Well… That took too much out of me damn… _

 

I groaned, starting to sit up, when I looked at what appeared to be a taser pointed at my nose. “Whoa whoa whoa!” I screeched, starting to scramble backward. I had a thing against electrocution. It reminded me all too much of the accident which made me a half-ghost in the first place. 

 

Robin was pointing a  _ taser _ at me. At my  _ face. _ “I don’t know what you did to him or why, but you’re going to pay!” He growled. My face went slack with fear.  _ SHIT _ .

 

“Wait, Robin!” Beast boy called from some seven feet away. “Don’t shoot him, it’s fine! See, I'm ok!” He stood up, then stumbled a little. He leaned against the couch as casually as he could. 

 

“Then why the hell did he throw you?” Robin demanded, glaring over at BB, who was glaring right back, obviously mad that the Boy Wonder had nearly shot me, and who was still pointing a  _ taser  _ level with my _ eyes.  _

 

“Rob, he didn't! He was still a little off from the infection, and didn’t quite get up to speed on exit he warned me about this!!” BB returned, making a sweeping gesture with his one hand. 

 

“...So you’re fine?” Robin asked, voice low and dead serious, nearly a growl. 

 

“YES!” BB shouted.

 

Finally, the taser lowered, and then was slid back into it’s holster. I changed back to Fenton with a breath I didn’t know I'd been holding. 

 

Cyborg had been watching the exchange, gripping tightly to the couch’s one arm, while Star had watched from the kitchen. 

 

Raven had stood up, watching us all carefully. 

 

“...I think we are needing to be getting some sleep.” Star finally said, breaking everyone’s tense, taut staring contest. 

 

“...Sure.” Robin said. “I'll be doing research. Don’t bother me.” He growled, stalking off down the hall.

 

BB smiled at me, offering a hand to pull me up. “Thanks for the game, bro.” He grinned as I took his hand and pulled up. 

 

“Anytime dude.” 

 

Cyborg rolled his eyes. “Next time, I'm kicking your fancy ghost ass, got it?” He pointed a finger at me. 

 

“Sure!” I laughed. “You can try anyway…” 

 

Raven said nothing to me, just gave me a slight nod and said, “Take him to the guest room.” To Beast Boy. 

 

“Aw sweet! You’re in the hallway with Ms. Creepy and I!” He grabbed me by the wrist (Forgetting, for the moment, I am a human.) and dragged me down the hallway, into a pretty plain bedroom. The second we were inside, BB ran up infront of me, looking frustrated.  “Here, ok, look…” Beast Boy took a deep breath in, and started unbelievably fast. “I’msosorryaboutRobintodayhe’skindaanassholeI’msosorrythattheyweresuspicioustodayandohmygodthiswastheworstfirstimpressionI’veevermadeonanyonean-” He really started to ramble, but I cut him off. 

 

“Hey, calm down.” I shushed him. He shut up. “I'm technically your prisoner right now, so really, I don’t mind.” At that small lie, I felt some part of me, the part that was so loyal to Tucker, cringe a bit. 

 

BB smiled, then looked away nervously. I was a bit bigger than him...correction, half a head taller than he was. “W-well, thanks for… Playing Burnout Revenge with me. And dragging me into the game. And making sure we both got out alive.”

 

“Eh, anytime. Sorry that I realized too late that I wasn’t quick enough to make a clean exit.” I shrugged. 

 

BB just smiled… Then bro-hugged me. I jerked a little as he did so, taking a minuscule step back. “You know…” He began. “You… Remind me of someone. An old friend.” He mumbled. “...Thanks for staying here rather than running off again.”

 

I stood there, stock still, wondering what cruel being of fate had made this my life, why they had decided to constantly bring my damn hero complex into play, why they had to constantly remind me of my failure to my friends.  _ Or maybe… This is my second chance. At… Everything. _

 

“...You’re welcome.”

 


	5. Remember What the People Said When it’s Said and Done, Let it Go

_ Green blasts whipped past my head and ears, clearly shot to kill, as I raced over the water, a wall of mist 20 feet high rising behind me, a sparkling, glittering wave of droplets that had been forced to the sky by my turbulence.  _

 

_ Another trigger pulled, another shot in the air. I did a dive-roll to the side, actually very difficult when you’re about a foot from the surface of the ocean doing well over 300. Miles, per hour.  _

 

_ The shot hit the water just right of my shoulder, sending a pillar of white, slightly glowing water into the air, the mist carried with me extending like tendrils of an ectopus. _

 

_ My enhanced hearing picked up on it first. “-repairing to fire ectoplasmic disruptor missile!” One of the agents on the fighter plain shouted into his microphone. One othe best advantages of being a ghost was being able to pick up otherwise unhearable frequencies, which meant I could hear radio and other kinds of waves.  _

 

Oh shit! _ I thought as I heard the missile fire, racing toward me at an equal or greater speed than my own. I could smell the ecto-battery that powered it’s motor, I could feel the energy bleeding off it and into the air.  _

 

_ I smirked. My parents had fixed this issue ages ago, but these goons must’ve stolen the blueprints.  _

 

_ Sometimes it pays to have a paranoid mother. She never writes it all down. My father does, but you can’t really read his handwriting.  _

 

This is going to hurt… _ I thought briefly before I rolled in midair, twisting in a slight corkscrew as I closed the foot of distance between me and the waves, plunging into the water at an unnatural high speed. Being ghost at that second meant that water didn't slow me down much, and I raced through the liquid, preparing for the bomb to send it’s fierce shockwave through the water.  _

 

_ First came the dull  _ bwump _ of the bomb crashing through the surface, the noise sending shivers up my spine. My white hair straggled back across my face as I looked back at the grey-green object, bubbles streaking from its thick form, practually flying for me. I might not be affected by resistance in the water, and it almost was like it wasn’t either. Then the missile faltered, it’s course wavering in the water, before it sparked and started to slow.  _ Time to go _. I thought, kicking my legs hard, even though I had virtually no reason to, and I breached the surface like a whale, water streaming off my body as I became tangible (Or, fully so anyway.) and slowed down a bit… _

 

_ The bomb exploded, lancing water into the air, followed by a light green shockwave that made my core tingle, spreading a warm shivery feeling throughout my whole body. I glid a few more feet back, even as the planes began to press closer. I shook with exhaustion, my form shuddering in midair. I turned to look back to the shore as I glid away from the planes, hoping my friends would remember what we discussed.  _

 

_ Then I saw them. The girl, short black hair fluttering in the wind, her moderate-length black coat whipping and waving in the breeze caused by the helicopters nearby. She was shouting, gesturing wildly, screaming something. ‘Run away!’ It looked like. ‘Fly away! Go!’.  _

 

_ The boy, one hand gripped tightly to his head to hold his red beret down in the battering, chaotic wind. The other, to a souped up ( _ I apologized not for that pun.)  _ thermos, green lines glowing in an electrical grid pattern, lighting up the mostly grey surrounding metal. He was gesturing as well, also screaming. ‘Dude, run! Go the other way!’. _

 

_ I stared at them curiously, wondering why they were telling me to run… _

 

_ Then it hit me.  _ (I apologized not one bit for this one either.)

 

_ A glowing, shimmering green net enveloped me, locking hard behind me. With all loss of my ghostly powers, I fell. Air blew my hair all over the place as I took a deep breath, bracing for impact.  _

 

_ The world seemed to slow down in my head, the water below me depressing in a huge bowl, before clapping in, the roar of the ocean filling my head with echoes of dying souls, caught in an endless web of disaster and pain.  _

 

_ Then there was a loud crackling noise, and the net lit. Energy sparked from the net to me and back, frying my body like an egg, sending me right back to the icy memories of that day, my bones, my blood, my cells, my fibers, my life, my death, my hope, my dreams and my mind, the day they all cracked, forward and back, letting a bloody flood of ectoplasm to infect my system, shattering my humanity in half and leaving me with my own ghost. Pain had been all I had known, and it was now all I knew, tracing paths through my body with ferocity, chewing through my will to shift, to move, to do anything but scream. I knew then how those dying souls felt. _

 

_ And when the net fired up, electrocuting me and everything in a 50 foot radius, I thought I’d join them. _

 

__

/      \

\ __ /

 

I shot awake with a gasp, clutching my chest where my heart and core were. 

 

My heart was going a thousand miles a minute, feeling like I had just run a marathon, and my core throbbed painfully, sending a wave of cold from my chest all the way to the tips of my fingers every few seconds. 

 

I panted, my breathing unsteady and hard as I tried to calm both my heart and core. My heart beats too hard, I could hurt myself. My core gathers too much power, I could start randomly freezing shit. Neither was good. 

 

With a sigh, I rolled over and pushed myself off the bed, sitting on the edge of it for a few minutes. As I regained my bearings, I took a look at the clock.

 

2:34 AM.

 

I let out a groan.  _ That wasn’t just a dream… That was a memory.  _ I thought, rubbing my face.  _ Ugh… Survivor’s guilt, here to screw up yet another night of sleep.  _ I thought, standing up. “Goin’ ghost…” I muttered, transforming into Phantom. I could use a little walk. Opening the door and stepping silently out into the hallway, I started for the main room. As I crept down the long, black hall, I noticed Raven’s door. 

 

It wasn't much to see, just a plain door with an emblem of a raven on it, except that the door was opened. Just slightly, leaving a tiny crack. 

 

One of the first things BB had told me about Raven was that she always had her door closed unless she was out of her room. I stared at the door for a second longer, the etherial glow I emitted lighting up the darkened room entrance. I considered briefly taking a look inside of her room, until I noticed that I wasn't the only thing glowing down the hall. 

 

At the other end of the stretch of floor, a small, rapidly shifting colored light glowed just slightly across the ground, shimmering in shades of grey, red and orange. Carefully, I kicked off the ground and glid, snaking my way down the hall, mentally bracing myself for an attack…

 

What I saw, though, made my jaw drop. 

 

Raven was sitting on the couch, Wii controller in her hands, clutched tightly, eyes narrowed in intense concentration as she leaned forward, mimicking my position from earlier. Her cape and hood were laying over the back of the couch, her boots kicked off and by the side. I glanced up at the screen.

 

A fiery, mountainous landscape. A green and black beast.

 

A girl, dual blades drawn, dressed in a black and purple. Two small creatures by her sides, sticklike weapons also at the ready. 

 

A carefully pushed joystick, a hunter on the hunt.

 

The beast roared, shaking the ground. 

 

A look of concentration, a sprint forward. 

 

A flurry of buttons, a combo attack.

 

It was actually kind of spectacular, even when it was in a video game, how the character did leaps and turns with a ferocious grace, slicing the monster over and over, cutting apart it’s iron-hard skin. It was funny how recognizable the fighting style was…  _ Wait a second! Did Raven copy some of her moves from this character? _ I let out a minuscule gasp. 

 

The reaction was instant. 

 

The game was paused, the remote in a box and the TV off in the span of a second. Raven yanked a book out of nowhere and tried to act casual. 

 

Then she turned around. “You.” She said in a sort-of flat voice, although it was a little curious. 

 

“Y-you play Monster Hunter?” I stumbled a bit over the words, a little shocked. She didn't strike me as the person to play any games at all. We were both talking very quietly.

 

“...If a word of this leaves this room, I'll finish what your accident started.” She growled, fierce purple eyes framed by her black hair. 

 

“Hey, hey, hey I think it’s cool. Everyone need a hobby.” I pulled up my hands in a sign of surrender. 

 

She sighed, stretched and walked to the other side of the room, retrieving her remote. “...You won’t tell anyone that I play?” She asked, looking defeated. 

 

“My lips are sealed.” I laughed quietly. A few other questions were burning in my brain, like,  _ why don’t you want anyone to know?! _ But that was for another time. For now, she let out a small breath, turned around, leaning back on the couch.

 

Very early into looking them up, I had ideas about each of them. One of the things I had never expected was to see Raven slouching, but here we were. 

 

Given, I also wasn’t expecting to be ‘kept’.

 

She flipped back on the TV, pressing ‘Continue’ once again, and instantly leaned forward, full-focus mode on again. I quietly flew over the couch backing, landing on the other side of the couch, folding my legs onto it. 

 

Raven’s character, who I discovered, after looking at the top corner, had a name; Asuna.  _ Why does that name seem familiar to me… _ I wondered, watching as Asuna did a clean roll, dodging an attack made by the creature, letting it smash into the wall as her minions did their tiny, pinprick-level damage.

 

Raven did another button combo, causing Asuna to leap into the air, performing a slashing spiral around her body, slicing into the creature’s body. The beast let out a wail, collapsing to the ground and thrashing while Asuna tore chunks from it’s throat. Sparks flew from it’s body as a chunk of the huge, battering-ram head cracked off. With another roar, it turned and limped out of the stage. Raven didn’t follow. 

 

Instead, she collected some of the sparkling pieces on the ground before turning to give chase to the pink dot on the upper left hand map. 

 

Some 10 minutes of bloody murder later, she was back in the town that acted as her base, sorting items from her hunt. 

 

“...Do you know anything about this game?” She finally asked. I had just been enjoying the show. 

 

“No, not really. I just know what it’s called. Looks cool, though.” I remarked. 

 

A remote, nunchuck attached, flew across the room and nailed me in the head. “You are now my hunting partner, albeit new. We’ll make you a character and you can play with me.”

 

I grinned. Raven might not have made eye contact in that mess, but it didn't change the fact that I was at least getting to know her. 

 

A few minutes later, my character, a white-haired skinny guy with green eyes (I CAN’T HELP IT.) was standing next to Asuna. I had called him Phantom. (I'm an unimaginative asshole.)

 

“Ok, so you see that thing?” Raven pointed to a large form of a Jaggi, sleeping surrounded by a few Jaggia.

 

“Yeah?” I replied, focusing my pointer on it. 

 

“That’s a Great Jaggi, one of the most basic bosses.” She looked over to me. “Kill it.”

 

I moved my joystick forward, drawing my long sword and slashing for the Great Jaggi, smirking. 

 

I no longer gave a single shit if it was 2 am. This helped me escape a lot of thoughts.

 

__

/      \

\ __ /

 

4:48. 

 

That’s what the clock said then. 

 

We shut off the game half an hour ago, but we were both too tired to go back to our beds. The couches were awfully comfortable. 

 

Raven’s cloak was draped over her body, the hood half over the side of her face as she lay on her side, facing into the couch. I was basically her mirrored, my head laying on a pillow that was propped against the arm of the other side of the couch. 

 

We were both falling asleep now, lulled by the calming silence that pressed around the room, left behind in the wake of quiet destruction, near-silent, bloody hunting and the hushed roars of dying monsters. 

 

_ I think I understand Skulker’s obsession with hunting now… _ I reflected briefly, feeling a little like I was drugged. 

 

“Danny?” Raven’s voice asked from the other side of the couch. 

 

“Yeah?”

 

“...What are you?” She asked.

 

I’ll admit, I hadn’t been expecting that. My tired mind supplied the right answer. “A halfa.”

 

“A what?”

 

“Halfa. Half a ghost, half a human. They’re pretty rare.” I continued. 

 

“...So you’re partway dead?” 

 

“...You could say that I guess.” I said with a sigh. Raven didn't ask any more questions, but I had one for her. “...What are you?”

 

I felt the couch shift a little as she started, tensing up… Then she relaxed. “...I'm a halfa too, I guess. Although, I’m half demon. My dad, Trigon, is… Kinda an ass.”

 

“Ah.” I replied. Then I gave her the same relief she gave me; I didn’t ask anything else, I didn’t pry… But I did one thing. “...Thanks.” 

 

I didn't need to say what for. 

 

“...You’re welcome.” She replied. 

 

__

/      \

\ __ /

 

I woke up way too few hours later to claws digging into my shoulder. At least, it sure felt like claws. I winced, going to roll over. 

 

“Wha-” I asked, my voice strange and twisted as I slowly regained awareness. 

 

There were muffled giggles from just behind me, and another body, a lot warmer to my ghost half (why was I ghost again?), was near my back, their back to mine.

 

And their fingers sunk half an inch deep into my tricep. 

 

“Ow, ok, just because I’m ghost doesn’t mean I don’t feel pai-”

 

“Shush.” A voice snapped at me, icy cold, light, collected and borderline murderous. Although, the last part wasn't directed at me. 

 

I opened my eyes, hissing at the light. It felt like I had a hangover. Finally, I managed to focus through the neon rays of energy that had defiled my sleeping spot. 

 

Beast Boy and Cyborg were standing in front of the couch, hands across their faces to muffle giggles.

 

Star and Robin, together in the kitchen, also looked lightly amused, looking between me and whoever was beside me on the couch. (Why am I on the couch..?)

 

_ Oh wait… _ I turned over and looked across my shoulder. 

 

Raven was sat up, her lower back touching mine, glaring daggers at BB and Cyborg. Her hand was gripping my shoulder, fingers tight on my arm. Her cape was off, lying over her lap, her hair slightly mussed up from sleeping. Admitted, mine probably wasn't looking much better. 

 

“W-what were you two even doing out here?!” Cyborg laughed, leaning on the side of the couch. Raven stiffened, but made no move to reply.  _ This is going to be awkward… _

 

“Had a chat.” I replied for her. She glanced back at me in shock as I shrugged, trying to help. 

 

“Oh?” Robin asked, blinking in surprise. I nodded. 

 

“Yeah, just had a chat. Nothing big.” I shrugged. 

 

“...Yeah…” Raven agreed, standing up. She put her cloak over her shoulders, clipping it together with the small red, gold-ringed gemstone, flipping the hood neatly over her hair. She started to walk away, feet quietly padding across the linoleum. Then she stopped. “...Thanks for the… Chat.” She murmured, then walked away, cloak seeming to link together down the front as she disappeared into the hallway. I sat up with a yawn. 

 

“Ok Danny,” Robin stepped forward. “What were you two chatting about?” He asked as I stretched, popping my back. 

 

“Um… Not much, really…” I tried to think of a good excuse for playing video games at 2 am with Raven, of all people. “Just a little bit about histories.” I shrugged, trying to act nonchalant. 

 

Robin glared at me, but didn't push. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OK LOOK IM REALLY SORRY
> 
> I might continue this again later, but for now, I am stopping this fanfic here. It's up for spinoffs, I guess... just know that I might pick it up again soon. For now, Im actually working on another Danny Phantom project called Bandages. 
> 
> Just... again, really sorry, but maybe give me some idea helpers for this story in the comments? I might pick it back up if it's good. 
> 
> Sorry guys!


	6. Remember What the People Said When it’s Said and Done, Let it Go

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hey look I actually did more of this story

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> GOD DAMN I ShOULD POST MORE SORRY PEEPS.

_ Green blasts whipped past my head and ears, clearly shot to kill, as I raced over the water, a wall of mist 20 feet high rising behind me, a sparkling, glittering wave of droplets that had been forced to the sky by my turbulence.  _

 

_ Another trigger pulled, another shot in the air. I did a dive-roll to the side, actually very difficult when you’re about a foot from the surface of the ocean doing well over 300. Miles, per hour.  _

 

_ The shot hit the water just right of my shoulder, sending a pillar of white, slightly glowing water into the air, the mist carried with me extending like tendrils of an ectopus. _

 

_ My enhanced hearing picked up on it first. “-repairing to fire ectoplasmic disruptor missile!” One of the agents on the fighter plain shouted into his microphone. One othe best advantages of being a ghost was being able to pick up otherwise unhearable frequencies, which meant I could hear radio and other kinds of waves.  _

 

Oh shit! _ I thought as I heard the missile fire, racing toward me at an equal or greater speed than my own. I could smell the ecto-battery that powered it’s motor, I could feel the energy bleeding off it and into the air.  _

 

_ I smirked. My parents had fixed this issue ages ago, but these goons must’ve stolen the blueprints.  _

 

_ Sometimes it pays to have a paranoid mother. She never writes it all down. My father does, but you can’t really read his handwriting.  _

 

This is going to hurt… _ I thought briefly before I rolled in midair, twisting in a slight corkscrew as I closed the foot of distance between me and the waves, plunging into the water at an unnatural high speed. Being ghost at that second meant that water didn't slow me down much, and I raced through the liquid, preparing for the bomb to send it’s fierce shockwave through the water.  _

 

_ First came the dull  _ bwump _ of the bomb crashing through the surface, the noise sending shivers up my spine. My white hair straggled back across my face as I looked back at the grey-green object, bubbles streaking from its thick form, practually flying for me. I might not be affected by resistance in the water, and it almost was like it wasn’t either. Then the missile faltered, it’s course wavering in the water, before it sparked and started to slow.  _ Time to go _. I thought, kicking my legs hard, even though I had virtually no reason to, and I breached the surface like a whale, water streaming off my body as I became tangible (Or, fully so anyway.) and slowed down a bit… _

 

_ The bomb exploded, lancing water into the air, followed by a light green shockwave that made my core tingle, spreading a warm shivery feeling throughout my whole body. I glid a few more feet back, even as the planes began to press closer. I shook with exhaustion, my form shuddering in midair. I turned to look back to the shore as I glid away from the planes, hoping my friends would remember what we discussed.  _

 

_ Then I saw them. The girl, short black hair fluttering in the wind, her moderate-length black coat whipping and waving in the breeze caused by the helicopters nearby. She was shouting, gesturing wildly, screaming something. ‘Run away!’ It looked like. ‘Fly away! Go!’.  _

 

_ The boy, one hand gripped tightly to his head to hold his red beret down in the battering, chaotic wind. The other, to a souped up ( _ I apologized not for that pun.)  _ thermos, green lines glowing in an electrical grid pattern, lighting up the mostly grey surrounding metal. He was gesturing as well, also screaming. ‘Dude, run! Go the other way!’. _

 

_ I stared at them curiously, wondering why they were telling me to run… _

 

_ Then it hit me.  _ (I apologized not one bit for this one either.)

 

_ A glowing, shimmering green net enveloped me, locking hard behind me. With all loss of my ghostly powers, I fell. Air blew my hair all over the place as I took a deep breath, bracing for impact.  _

 

_ The world seemed to slow down in my head, the water below me depressing in a huge bowl, before clapping in, the roar of the ocean filling my head with echoes of dying souls, caught in an endless web of disaster and pain.  _

 

_ Then there was a loud crackling noise, and the net lit. Energy sparked from the net to me and back, frying my body like an egg, sending me right back to the icy memories of that day, my bones, my blood, my cells, my fibers, my life, my death, my hope, my dreams and my mind, the day they all cracked, forward and back, letting a bloody flood of ectoplasm to infect my system, shattering my humanity in half and leaving me with my own ghost. Pain had been all I had known, and it was now all I knew, tracing paths through my body with ferocity, chewing through my will to shift, to move, to do anything but scream. I knew then how those dying souls felt. _

 

_ And when the net fired up, electrocuting me and everything in a 50 foot radius, I thought I’d join them. _

 

__

/      \

\ __ /

 

I shot awake with a gasp, clutching my chest where my heart and core were. 

 

My heart was going a thousand miles a minute, feeling like I had just run a marathon, and my core throbbed painfully, sending a wave of cold from my chest all the way to the tips of my fingers every few seconds. 

 

I panted, my breathing unsteady and hard as I tried to calm both my heart and core. My heart beats too hard, I could hurt myself. My core gathers too much power, I could start randomly freezing shit. Neither was good. 

 

With a sigh, I rolled over and pushed myself off the bed, sitting on the edge of it for a few minutes. As I regained my bearings, I took a look at the clock.

 

2:34 AM.

 

I let out a groan.  _ That wasn’t just a dream… That was a memory.  _ I thought, rubbing my face.  _ Ugh… Survivor’s guilt, here to screw up yet another night of sleep.  _ I thought, standing up. “Goin’ ghost…” I muttered, transforming into Phantom. I could use a little walk. Opening the door and stepping silently out into the hallway, I started for the main room. As I crept down the long, black hall, I noticed Raven’s door. 

 

It wasn't much to see, just a plain door with an emblem of a raven on it, except that the door was opened. Just slightly, leaving a tiny crack. 

 

One of the first things BB had told me about Raven was that she always had her door closed unless she was out of her room. I stared at the door for a second longer, the etherial glow I emitted lighting up the darkened room entrance. I considered briefly taking a look inside of her room, until I noticed that I wasn't the only thing glowing down the hall. 

 

At the other end of the stretch of floor, a small, rapidly shifting colored light glowed just slightly across the ground, shimmering in shades of grey, red and orange. Carefully, I kicked off the ground and glid, snaking my way down the hall, mentally bracing myself for an attack…

 

What I saw, though, made my jaw drop. 

 

Raven was sitting on the couch, Wii controller in her hands, clutched tightly, eyes narrowed in intense concentration as she leaned forward, mimicking my position from earlier. Her cape and hood were laying over the back of the couch, her boots kicked off and by the side. I glanced up at the screen.

 

A fiery, mountainous landscape. A green and black beast.

 

A girl, dual blades drawn, dressed in a black and purple. Two small creatures by her sides, sticklike weapons also at the ready. 

 

A carefully pushed joystick, a hunter on the hunt.

 

The beast roared, shaking the ground. 

 

A look of concentration, a sprint forward. 

 

A flurry of buttons, a combo attack.

 

It was actually kind of spectacular, even when it was in a video game, how the character did leaps and turns with a ferocious grace, slicing the monster over and over, cutting apart it’s iron-hard skin. It was funny how recognizable the fighting style was…  _ Wait a second! Did Raven copy some of her moves from this character? _ I let out a minuscule gasp. 

 

The reaction was instant. 

 

The game was paused, the remote in a box and the TV off in the span of a second. Raven yanked a book out of nowhere and tried to act casual. 

 

Then she turned around. “You.” She said in a sort-of flat voice, although it was a little curious. 

 

“Y-you play Monster Hunter?” I stumbled a bit over the words, a little shocked. She didn't strike me as the person to play any games at all. We were both talking very quietly.

 

“...If a word of this leaves this room, I'll finish what your accident started.” She growled, fierce purple eyes framed by her black hair. 

 

“Hey, hey, hey I think it’s cool. Everyone need a hobby.” I pulled up my hands in a sign of surrender. 

 

She sighed, stretched and walked to the other side of the room, retrieving her remote. “...You won’t tell anyone that I play?” She asked, looking defeated. 

 

“My lips are sealed.” I laughed quietly. A few other questions were burning in my brain, like,  _ why don’t you want anyone to know?! _ But that was for another time. For now, she let out a small breath, turned around, leaning back on the couch.

 

Very early into looking them up, I had ideas about each of them. One of the things I had never expected was to see Raven slouching, but here we were. 

 

Given, I also wasn’t expecting to be ‘kept’.

 

She flipped back on the TV, pressing ‘Continue’ once again, and instantly leaned forward, full-focus mode on again. I quietly flew over the couch backing, landing on the other side of the couch, folding my legs onto it. 

 

Raven’s character, who I discovered, after looking at the top corner, had a name; Asuna.  _ Why does that name seem familiar to me… _ I wondered, watching as Asuna did a clean roll, dodging an attack made by the creature, letting it smash into the wall as her minions did their tiny, pinprick-level damage.

 

Raven did another button combo, causing Asuna to leap into the air, performing a slashing spiral around her body, slicing into the creature’s body. The beast let out a wail, collapsing to the ground and thrashing while Asuna tore chunks from it’s throat. Sparks flew from it’s body as a chunk of the huge, battering-ram head cracked off. With another roar, it turned and limped out of the stage. Raven didn’t follow. 

 

Instead, she collected some of the sparkling pieces on the ground before turning to give chase to the pink dot on the upper left hand map. 

 

Some 10 minutes of bloody murder later, she was back in the town that acted as her base, sorting items from her hunt. 

 

“...Do you know anything about this game?” She finally asked. I had just been enjoying the show. 

 

“No, not really. I just know what it’s called. Looks cool, though.” I remarked. 

 

A remote, nunchuck attached, flew across the room and nailed me in the head. “You are now my hunting partner, albeit new. We’ll make you a character and you can play with me.”

 

I grinned. Raven might not have made eye contact in that mess, but it didn't change the fact that I was at least getting to know her. 

 

A few minutes later, my character, a white-haired skinny guy with green eyes (I CAN’T HELP IT.) was standing next to Asuna. I had called him Phantom. (I'm an unimaginative asshole.)

 

“Ok, so you see that thing?” Raven pointed to a large form of a Jaggi, sleeping surrounded by a few Jaggia.

 

“Yeah?” I replied, focusing my pointer on it. 

 

“That’s a Great Jaggi, one of the most basic bosses.” She looked over to me. “Kill it.”

 

I moved my joystick forward, drawing my long sword and slashing for the Great Jaggi, smirking. 

 

I no longer gave a single shit if it was 2 am. This helped me escape a lot of thoughts.

 

__

/      \

\ __ /

 

4:48. 

 

That’s what the clock said then. 

 

We shut off the game half an hour ago, but we were both too tired to go back to our beds. The couches were awfully comfortable. 

 

Raven’s cloak was draped over her body, the hood half over the side of her face as she lay on her side, facing into the couch. I was basically her mirrored, my head laying on a pillow that was propped against the arm of the other side of the couch. 

 

We were both falling asleep now, lulled by the calming silence that pressed around the room, left behind in the wake of quiet destruction, near-silent, bloody hunting and the hushed roars of dying monsters. 

 

_ I think I understand Skulker’s obsession with hunting now… _ I reflected briefly, feeling a little like I was drugged. 

 

“Danny?” Raven’s voice asked from the other side of the couch. 

 

“Yeah?”

 

“...What are you?” She asked.

 

I’ll admit, I hadn’t been expecting that. My tired mind supplied the right answer. “A halfa.”

 

“A what?”

 

“Halfa. Half a ghost, half a human. They’re pretty rare.” I continued. 

 

“...So you’re partway dead?” 

 

“...You could say that I guess.” I said with a sigh. Raven didn't ask any more questions, but I had one for her. “...What are you?”

 

I felt the couch shift a little as she started, tensing up… Then she relaxed. “...I'm a halfa too, I guess. Although, I’m half demon. My dad, Trigon, is… Kinda an ass.”

 

“Ah.” I replied. Then I gave her the same relief she gave me; I didn’t ask anything else, I didn’t pry… But I did one thing. “...Thanks.” 

 

I didn't need to say what for. 

 

“...You’re welcome.” She replied. 

 

__

/      \

\ __ /

 

I woke up way too few hours later to claws digging into my shoulder. At least, it sure felt like claws. I winced, going to roll over. 

 

“Wha-” I asked, my voice strange and twisted as I slowly regained awareness. 

 

There were muffled giggles from just behind me, and another body, a lot warmer to my ghost half (why was I ghost again?), was near my back, their back to mine.

 

And their fingers sunk half an inch deep into my tricep. 

 

“Ow, ok, just because I’m ghost doesn’t mean I don’t feel pai-”

 

“Shush.” A voice snapped at me, icy cold, light, collected and borderline murderous. Although, the last part wasn't directed at me. 

 

I opened my eyes, hissing at the light. It felt like I had a hangover. Finally, I managed to focus through the neon rays of energy that had defiled my sleeping spot. 

 

Beast Boy and Cyborg were standing in front of the couch, hands across their faces to muffle giggles.

 

Star and Robin, together in the kitchen, also looked lightly amused, looking between me and whoever was beside me on the couch. (Why am I on the couch..?)

 

_ Oh wait… _ I turned over and looked across my shoulder. 

 

Raven was sat up, her lower back touching mine, glaring daggers at BB and Cyborg. Her hand was gripping my shoulder, fingers tight on my arm. Her cape was off, lying over her lap, her hair slightly mussed up from sleeping. Admitted, mine probably wasn't looking much better. 

 

“W-what were you two even doing out here?!” Cyborg laughed, leaning on the side of the couch. Raven stiffened, but made no move to reply.  _ This is going to be awkward… _

 

“Had a chat.” I replied for her. She glanced back at me in shock as I shrugged, trying to help. 

 

“Oh?” Robin asked, blinking in surprise. I nodded. 

 

“Yeah, just had a chat. Nothing big.” I shrugged. 

 

“...Yeah…” Raven agreed, standing up. She put her cloak over her shoulders, clipping it together with the small red, gold-ringed gemstone, flipping the hood neatly over her hair. She started to walk away, feet quietly padding across the linoleum. Then she stopped. “...Thanks for the… Chat.” She murmured, then walked away, cloak seeming to link together down the front as she disappeared into the hallway. I sat up with a yawn. 

 

“Ok Danny,” Robin stepped forward. “What were you two chatting about?” He asked as I stretched, popping my back. 

 

“Um… Not much, really…” I tried to think of a good excuse for playing video games at 2 am with Raven, of all people. “Just a little bit about histories.” I shrugged, trying to act nonchalant. 

 

Robin glared at me, but didn't push. 

 

I stood up and stretched, feeling my back realign as I extended my arms over my head. “I’m uhh…” I gestured down the hall. “Gonna just…” I took a few steps toward the exit of the awkward. “Yep.” I turned and power-walked out, down the hall, and back to my room. 

 

“Well that wasn’t awkward at all.” I mumbled to myself, leaning on the closed door. “Not at all.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well this was the strangest headcannon I have had for Raven EVER.

**Author's Note:**

> *Mumbling* I hate my life...


End file.
